Fascinating insight by the New York Times into the evolution of athletes by comparing Usain Bolt’s 100 meter gold medal win versus olympic medalists from the past 116 years.
It’s not often one sees a flying house! Artist Laurent Chehere must have thought, why not make it a more common sight. Chehere manipulates these images of homes and gives them a completely different character, floating in the air, destination unknown.
"Global Pharmacy shows, on average, the amount of pills consumed a year for a male living in the UK."
Artist:Chris Chamberlain
London IT worker Chris Chamberlain spent two years piecing together a giant mosaic of Earth made with 330,000 hand-cut pieces of stained glass and 1238 jewels totalling 260 carats, called 'Jewel of the Universe'.
Chris uses NASA satellite photos of Earth for his 320cm x 220cm x 12cm mosaic and took him 2 years to finish. He then glued the pieces one by one onto a thick sheet of perspex with a pair of tweezers. Zircons mark the world’s top 100 cities, Rubies and emeralds mark the spiritual cities, while major rivers are represented by hundreds of tiny turquoise-coloured glass pieces. The artwork then framed using 80,000 pieces of black stained glass and illuminated from within by 800 high-power, eco-friendly LEDs.
"I've always had an interest in art but I can't paint and I can't draw. But I can cut glass and I think I've invented a new kind of artwork which hopefully I and others can expand on."
"It's my first ever artwork and it's pretty much taken over my life. I made it in my garage during my spare time - my wife has hardly seen me over the last couple of years."
Chris is trying to sell his magnificent artwork on eBay for £250,000 ($380,000). The proceeds from the sale will go toward funding humanitarian projects in Sierra Leone.
“Since visiting Sierra Leone 11 years ago, right after its civil war, I vowed to help it – in my own creative way. Tried twice and failed. Then divine inspiration struck: why not make a huge artwork, a new type of art, in praise of what may well be the most wonderful planet in the universe, and try to make it attractive enough that someone would invest a good amount of money in it? And if it sells, if I’m offered just a fraction of what I’m asking, then I’ll use the money to start a fair trade arts co-operative in Sierra Leone. And the buyer is welcome to head out there with me and join in with some of the projects I’m trying to help. It might be the adventure of a lifetime.”
UK-based artist Susan Stockwell creates a gigantic world map made from recycled computer components for the University of Bedfordshire, entitled 'World'.
She uses motherboards, electrical wiring, fans, and myriad other components donated by Secure IT Recyclingfor her artwork.
Artist:Hypersonic Engineering & Design, Plebian Design, and Chris Parlato
This Global Data Chandelier is a custom light fixture commissioned by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
It consists of 425 pendant lamps that form a map of the world and glows in time with different global data sets such as GDP growth rate, renewable water resources, and energy consumption. Each data set is paired with a unique lighting animation
Check out the video below to see the lighting patterns in action.
Artist:Ai Weiwei
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has created a map of China made from more than 1,800 cans of baby formula, entitled 'Baby Formula 2013'.
"The piece is related to several problems. One is the recent ban on mainland residents buying milk powder and bringing it back to China, and then there is the issue of why Chinese mainlanders go to Hong Kong to buy milk powder. We know that on the mainland food safety is a very serious problem. It largely related to a lack of supervision and moral decay within industry. Hong Kong people make profits from these problems, and are also victims."