Link About It: This Week’s Picks
From a macro photography award to a cycling innovation, a climate crisis solution and more from around the internet
15 Art Sales That Support Relief Efforts in Ukraine
The team at digital marketplace and editorial platform Artsy put together a list of 15 exhibitions and online art sales with proceeds going to organizations providing relief in Ukraine. Many Ukrainian artists are featured—including Anastasiya Tarasenko, Vita Eruhimovitz and Julia Beliaeva—as well as Ukrainian Americans such as Janet Sobel. Artsy also includes other creatives who are documenting the current realities of those in Ukraine, like Think + Feel Contemporary’s online gallery of Jan Stovka’s photographs capturing the refugee crisis. Throughout the list, a number of different humanitarian efforts are represented from the International Rescue Committee (which supports refugees) and the National Union of Artists of Ukraine to Razom for Ukraine and USA for UNHCR. View the full list and some of the poignant artworks at Artsy.
Image of “Four Fish To Sell (form the Project MARIA series)” (2022) by Lesia Maruschak, courtesy of Cindy Rucker Gallery
How Women in India are Fighting Climate Change With Mangrove Trees
Between India and Bangladesh, the Sundarbans mangrove forest (which sits on one of the largest deltas in the world) is urgently affected by climate change, as rising sea levels and eroding embankments threaten nearly 4.5 million lives. This is why over 15,000 women from the surrounding villages have begun planting hundreds of thousands more mangrove trees in the open waters in order to create a protective barrier. The mangroves mitigate climate change, capture carbon and also reduce the height and speed of waves to lessen storms. Planting them is no easy feat, however; the women must wade through snakes, thorns and biting snails—along with rebuffing popular beliefs in the area that women belong at home. With no government backing and while many men move to the city for work, it is often the women who are leading the fight against climate change. Since growing their mission, these women have not only saved villages but also proven their fortitude. Learn more about these courageous activists on the frontlines at The New York Times.
Image courtesy of Saumya Khandelwal/The New York Times
Winning Photos from Apple’s Shot on the iPhone Macro Challenge
Otherworldly pieces of sea glass in Argentina, a transfixing strawberry in soda, the enchanting latticework of snowflakes and more photographs comprise the 10 winners of Apple’s Shot on the iPhone Macro Challenge. Tasked with capturing the smallest details on an iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, photographers around the world set out to illuminate the beauty of macro photography, as well as the capabilities of phone photography, by transforming mundane details into fantastical microcosms and overlooked subjects into unfamiliar beauties. This year, a panelist of judges—Anand Varma, Apeksha Maker, Peter McKinnon, Paddy Chao, Yik Keat Lee, Arem Duplessis, Billy Sorrentino, Della Huff, Kaiann Drance and Pamela Chen—selected the winning images. View these mesmerizing shots, along with why they were selected, at Apple.
Image of “Sea Glass” by Guido Cassanelli (@laion.ph) courtesy of the photographer/Apple
Scientists Develop a Technology That Reverses Hearing Loss
Founded by MIT scientists, the clinical-stage biotech company Frequency Therapeutics discovered a way to reverse hearing loss without hearing aids or implants. Focusing on progenitor cells (which reside in the inner ear and turn into hair cells when humans are in utero, before going dormant) the company injects small molecules into the cochlea, which transform these cells into hair cells that help us hear. During their 200-person trial, the company saw meaningful improvement in patients’ hearing, with some reporting improved speech perception after a single injection that lasted nearly two years. “I wouldn’t be surprised if, in 10 or 15 years, because of the resources being put into this space and the incredible science being done, we can get to the point where [reversing hearing loss] would be similar to Lasik surgery, where you’re in and out in an hour or two,” says Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology affiliate faculty member Jeff Karp. While the drug still needs to undergo further testing, the breakthrough is a hopeful milestone for the field of regenerative medicine. Read more about it at SciTechDaily.
Image courtesy of Hinton AS, Yang-Hood A, Schrader AD, Loose C, Ohlemiller KK, McLean WJ
Architect Oscar Niemeyer’s Final Building Opens
Designed two years before Pritzker Prize-winning Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer’s death (at the age of 104) in 2010, a curving pavilion at French vineyard Château La Coste is now open to guests. Two architectural attributes (a cylindrical auditorium and a glass-walled gallery space) as well as an outdoor reflecting pool contribute to the structure’s organic form—which aligns with the curving landscape and surrounding vines. Château La Coste houses other designs by Niemeyer, who lived in France for 20 years. The South of France destination also touts architecturally significant contributions from Tadao Ando, Jean Nouvel, Renzo Piano, Frank Gehry and more. Read more about the tranquil building at Dezeen.
Image courtesy of Stéphane Aboudaram / We Are Content(s)
Queer|Art’s $10,000 Grant for a Black Trans Woman Artist is Now Open
From Queer|Art—a New York non-profit that formed in 2009 to “support a generation of LGBTQ+ artists that lost mentors to the AIDS Crisis of the 1980s”—comes the Illuminations Grant, a $10,000 annual award given to a Black trans woman or trans femme visual artist. Applications are open from now until 12 June. The winner will also receive career development resources as a way to mitigate inequities within the art world. According to Aaryn Lang who helped found the award, “The Illuminations Grant not only highlights the lacking representation of Black trans women in the visual arts but also seeks to confront the systemic barriers that deny them artistic opportunities and a sustainable craft.” Qualifying applicants include painters, drawers, sculptures, ceramicists, printmakers, photographers, fiber artists and videographers. A panel of three judges—artist Jonathan Lyndon Chase, curator and author Kimberly Drew and performer and fashion illustrator Connie Fleming—will select one winner. Read more at Hyperallergic or apply directly at Queer|Art.
Image of “Cats Cradle” (2020), by Glori Tuitt; courtesy of Queer|Art
Stephen Henrich’s Infinity Bike Moves Without Wheels
Reimagining the concept of a bike, Stuttgart, Germany-based designer, robotics engineer and architect Stephen Henrich unveiled the Infinity Bike, an award-winning creation that replaces wheels with a large, caterpillar-like chain element that can fluidly switch between functions and is propelled by a central pinched structure, a crank over a short chain and an eight-speed gearbox. Henrich tells Mashable, “It’s a bicycle with a frame and something like a fork. So, we have a handlebar, we have a saddle, we have peddles and all that. But apart from that, it’s something completely different.” While the bike is currently in its prototype phase, it is slated to have improved traction when compared to a traditional bike and plans to be fully rideable in the near future. Learn more about it at Mashable.
Image courtesy of Stephen Henrich
Link About It is our filtered look at the web, shared daily in Link and on social media, and rounded up every Saturday morning. Hero image”Sea Glass” by Guido Cassanelli (@laion.ph) courtesy of the photographer/Apple
