Link About It: This Week’s Picks
Sparkling tiger cub collars, Wi-Fi securing wallpaper, seasonal carpet and more in our weekly look at the web
1. John Baldessari
Narrated by Tom Waits, this cleverly edited video breaks down John Baldessari’s life in a mere six minutes for a brief history lesson on the artist dubbed a “surrealist for the digital age”. With over 200 solo shows and a handful of significant awards comprising his portofolio, the LACMA-commissioned video is a short rundown of how Baldessari became the 6’7 badass who boldly declared “I will not make boring art”.
2. Season Carpet (soft thermometer)
Using three different colors of heat sensitive wool, Norwegian designer Siren Elise Wilhelmsen has created a stunning rug that acts like a soft thermometer, changing its appearance depending on the environment.
3. J.Viewz “Rivers and Homes”
Breathing new life into the tired YouTube-stop-motion scene, this video from Brooklyn-based musician J.Viewz began with a traditional music video, from which 2000 individual frames were printed out and distributed to 300 fans while on tour in Israel. The result is an intricate, hypnotizing experience, achieved without any computer-generated effects.
4. Ms. Fitz + Bjarne Melgaarde
Australian stylist extraordinaire Ms. Fitz was tapped by Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaarde to create a set of tiger cub collars for “Ideal Pole”, his current exhibition at NYC’s Ramiken Crucible gallery. Known for her flamboyantly stylish aesthetic, Ms. Fitz’s take on the collars only adds to the wildness of the show. Who doesn’t want to see a tiger sporting a leopard-print cape?
5. Just Kids Soundtrack
For those who became enthralled with the world Patti Smith spun with her stunning prose in “Just Kids”, Spotify user Beth Miller has created a pitch perfect playlist of all the songs mentioned throughout the book.
6. Sonos Sub
Announced at New York’s design week, Sonos has designed Sub—a wireless subwoofer to add to the Sonos System. The sleek, portable design solves the problem of the large and oft-unattractive subwoofer, and can be placed anywhere without the disruption of sound from nearby furniture or walls. The Sub will be available 19 June for $699, followed by a matte version in October for $599.
7. DeLorean 2.0
With a body of stainless steel to match the legendary car for which it’s named, The DeLorean Bicycle has been developed with the blessing of the defunct auto maker. Available in two models, the beautiful bikes gain a smooth, responsive ride unlike many others on the market.
8. Future Self
A beautiful piece of interactive LED art, Future Self is an enchanting work created by rAndom International for MADE gallery in Berlin. A combination of LEDs and custom software mimic and interpret motion, creating a captivating set of changing light patterns.
9. Museum
An 80-square-foot former freight elevator, NYC’s newest museum is as curious as its super simple name—which is Museum. The current exhibition features an intriguing assortment of goods, like toothpaste from around the world and items found at the bottom of the sea, showing what curator Alex Kalman calls “beauty and magic in the everyday.”
10. LiquiGlide
Get straight to eating at your local burger joint—Dave Smith and the Varanasi Research group of MIT have created LiquiGlide, a “structured liquid” that allows for easy dispense of condiments in glass and squeeze bottles. Before adding food product, the bottles are sprayed with the innovative product which comes from an anti-icing coating used to prevent clogs in oil and gas lines.
11. The Streets of NYC
The story of New York is told through
870,000 photographs taken from the mid-1800s to the present in a digital photo archive by the New York City
Municipality. Glamorous stills are mixed with gritty candids in the
vast database, which has been digitized for public use.
12. Wi-Fi Securing Wallpaper
For those concerned about the security of private networks, newly developed wallpaper from Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble may be the perfect solution. Coated in conductive silver ink, the wallpaper secures Wi-Fi networks while preserving access to radio and mobile phones. It’s being manufactured by Finnish company Ahlstrom and should be out by 2013.
13. Giddyup!
Plenty of people can claim disdain for the overwhelming invite channels of Evite, Paperless Post, epic email chains and incessant text messages, so the new group-wrangling app GiddyUp! might offer a welcome simplification. The new service allows the user to make an event with as many optional details (time, location, etc) as they wish, then invite people in their contacts and manage RSVPs with a few taps.
14. One Hour Project
Graphic designer Zeynep Yildirim has spent the last two years taking on various projects that last exactly one hour in an effort to answer the question, “what is possible in an hour?” She is now seeking funding on Kickstarter to publish a book detailing her first 250 projects.
15. Real Time Farms
Described as a “Wikipedia for food”, Real Time Farms is the result of
husband-and-wife team Cara and Karl Roasen’s effort to bring more
transparency the source of food in the U.S. While the site has yet to reach
its full potential, the groundwork has been laid to create a
crowd-sourced database for locavore eating.
16. Ice Cream Lock
We first wrote about Ben and Jerry’s Euphori-Lock in 2005, but it’s reached a fever pitch on the Web this week. Meant to keep your valuable pints of ice cream safe while you’re away, the combination lock slips right onto the ice cream casing with a messege to potential thieves, “I’m terribly sorry, but there is no ‘u’ in ‘my pint'”.
