Gun Powder

Space No.1 1988 - Tokyo, Japan by Cai Guo-Qiang. Materials: gunpowder, paper, light & glass


The Dragon Has Arrived! 1997 - Venice, Italy.
Materials: Salvaged wood from sunken boat, Chinese flags, electric fan, lights


Posted by Cati Vaucelle
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GPS tracking and goggle earth navigation

I've looked for GPS - Global Positioning System- recently. Wouldn't that be awesome for the iphone to have GPS technology integrated while being connected to Google Earth? All in one certainly! One product, the GPS Tracking Key, is a pocket sized device that receives signals from the twenty-four Department of Defense GPS satellites orbiting the earth. And it is ... Google Earth compatible!

"The Global Positioning System (GPS) is the only fully functional Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Utilizing a constellation of at least 24 Medium Earth Orbit satellites that transmit precise microwave signals, the system enables a GPS receiver to determine its location, speed, direction, and time. Other similar systems are the Russian GLONASS (incomplete as of 2007), the upcoming European Galileo positioning system, the proposed COMPASS navigation system of China, and IRNSS of India. - Wikipedia"

As you might already know, the internal computer accurately determines the GPS location of the device within 2.5 meters and records this data every second. In this GPS tracking device, the Data can be downloaded and view in Google Earth simply by plugging the Tracking Key into the USB port of a computer. It seems that connecting it to the iphone wouldn't be that hard!

Here are a few links shared by Aaron Zinman on samples to code the iphone:

MobileScrobbler -- Last FM client with lots of UIKit use, iPod access & monitoring, Calendar Integration
doom ported
nes emulator home page
svn repo
MAME ported over SDL
bluetooth/wifi access/cell tower
video conferencing


Posted by Cati Vaucelle
♥ Architectradure
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Is this a land made for you and me?

Is this a land for you and me 1 by artist Paul Ramirez Jonas.

Upon entering the exhibition space the public encounters short bases each supporting a hand bell. All the hand bells together form a song. Meaning, for each note in the melody, there is a hand bell. In fact, the bases are a blow up of the song's score, cup up so that each note is isolated. The only notes that remain grouped are the chorus. Members of the public are invited to take one bell/note, take it along, and ring it as they see the show. On their way out, they would place the bell back on its pedestal. The song is thus fractured and dispersed in the space. There is a slim chance that the public, either by chance or through cooperation, could perform the melody.


Posted by Cati Vaucelle
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Upcoming design competitions

Samsonite Baby Travel Design Competition
Baby-Travel.com invites designers, students & inventors worldwide to design a product relating to the world of traveling with babies, toddlers and their parents. Deadline 31st March 2008.

Pdf. with details

Workstation Design Competition 2008
You are invited to investigate the future design of the work environment! Deadline 30th June 2008.

Greener Gadgets Design Competition. Designs should seek to minimize the environmental impact of consumer electronic devices at any stage in the product lifecycle. Deadline 27th January 2008.

2008 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA). IDEA is the premier international competition celebrating design excellence in products, ecodesign, interaction design, packaging, strategy, research and concepts. Winning entries receive press coverage in BusinessWeek magazine, businessweek.com and hundreds of other media outlets around the world. Deadline 29th February 2008.

The Tech Virtual Museum Workshop. Want to create your own museum exhibit? Want to develop it with other creative thinkers and experts around the world? Want to share your exhibits with visitors in virtual and real galleries? This is the place to design and prototype exhibits online, using the web and Second Life. The best projects will be eligible for prizes and will be co-developed as physical exhibits at The Tech Museum in conjunction with its upcoming Art Film and Music exhibition on technology in art, film, music and dance. Deadline soon!

Other design competitions

Posted by Cati Vaucelle
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The subtle vibrations

Duncan Wilson created Otto with Manolis Kelaidis at the Royal College of Art.

OTTO (Greek for ‘ear’) is a device that makes hidden sounds audible. This is achieved via a thin polymer piezoelectric contact that senses weak vibrations and plays them as a sound through an integrated speaker. OTTO can be positioned on almost any surface through a combination of suction and magnets. By placing several units on different objects, one can select and create a new sonic experience and a form of ambient music appreciation, thereby utilising our space as a multidirectional audio platform.

Every object and surface in our environment has a whisper; subtle tremors and vibrations that are usually undetectable to the human ear, produced by the activity and movement of daily life. What if these sounds were audible? How would that change our aural awareness, perception of space and attitude towards objects? Would it be possible to ‘compose’ our own soundtrack using our walls and objects as a new form of instruments? Madsounds is a proposal for a different appreciation of our environment, space and objects by making it possible to identify, combine and manipulate these sounds.

More projects from the RCA.


Posted by Cati Vaucelle
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Transformation

Freeze by Akiko and Masako Takada. Picture from Champ Libre.

The twin sisters Akiko and Masako Takada transform plastic packing into a urban landscape, gradually covered with white frost. The plastic objects were actually covered and crystallized by salted water. In other words, the scene captures the moment of natural transformation.

Posted by Cati Vaucelle
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Haaa typography ...

Helvetica Bold, 36 point --1956-1957 by Edouard Hoffmann and Max Miedinger. Lead and wood tray, 1 7/8 x 10 5/8 x 24 3/4" (4.8 x 27 x 62.9 cm).

A recent acquisition of the MoMA. Gift of Lars Müller and Stampa Didot, Switzerland.

Posted by Cati Vaucelle
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Breathing Spirulina

There is this place in Paris, Flood -58 rue de Chateaudun et 1 rue Danielle Casanova- where one can eat air made of Spirulina. Created by Mathieu Lehanneur, an aquarium rests in the centre of each area containing over 100 litres of Spirulina Platensis, an algae I have been eating since my teenage years. By photosynthesis, these microalgae produce pure oxygen. A fresh, living material, rich in proteins and with a taste resembling tofu, next time I am in Paris, I will have to try this place!




Posted by Cati Vaucelle
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Therapeutic objects

Having researched and designed haptic devices to support psychotherapeutic treatments, I am fascinated by French designer :) Mathieu Lehanneur's work on therapeutic objects he conceived with psychiatric consultants: Bernard Lachaux, Patrick Lemoine and model makers: Alban Danguy des Deserts. These objects are part of the permanent collection of the MOMA, NYC.

He proposes a series of objects not only as an attempt to bring design into the medical sphere, but essentially to design medications from the perspective of the patient and his/her illness relationship.

His scenario envisions: the placebo effect, a participation of the patient in his/her treatment, making the medication a communicative and sensory object, debating on the mechanistic approach of modern pharmacology, playing on emotions of attraction, desire, fear and repulsion towards a device or a particular form using gestures, usage practices and rituals.


Therapeutic felt-tip pen, 2001.

This analgesic for chronic pain is a systemic medication, which acts on all symptoms together. All that is required is to write on the painful area of the body each day and to remove the used cartridge at the end of each day. This transdermal product is coupled with a user-friendly ink that disappears after several minutes.




The Third Lung, 2001.

This project consists of a base treatment for asthma. The patient who refuses to accept his illness will reject even more the idea of taking medication unnecessary. The idea behind this therapeutic object is to establish a relationship of dependence.

But in this case the medication is dependent on the patient. Between two doses, the volume of the medication increases, this displaying its own physiological problem and indicating to the patient the urgency of taking the medication. Once the dose is administered, the volume decreases and returns to its normal level, only to expand once again until the next dose is administered.


The First Mouthful


Posted by Cati Vaucelle
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Flying, swimming or shrinking car?

Searching for a new car, I selected a few options: the flying, the auto nautical and the city car.


The Skycar. Photo by Bruce Calkins

Paul Moller has been working on his Icarus dream, the Skycar M400. Thanks to its four rotating engine nacelles, the skycare takes off, lands vertically and makes short flights. Apparently this latest prototype should be ready by 2009.

"Its performance exceeds that of any light helicopter, including a top speed that is three times faster. When compared to a high-performance airplane, the Skycar has vertical takeoff and landing capability, is safer and potentially less expensive. The performance boundaries of the Skycar are much less restrictive than those of both helicopters and airplanes. These expanded operating limits are the natural consequence of combining VTOL and high-speed cruise in a single aircraft. The resulting flexibility allows many transportation applications to be addressed for the first time."


The Aquada V6 175 ch, 160km/h on the road, 57km/h on water. Gibbs Technologies

The affordable auto nautical car, the Aquada, is an amphibian car. On the road it looks like a Mazda MX-5 and on water it turns into a jet-engine outboard with a cruising speed of 30 knots.

Finally, the super convenient city car. The research group smart cities at the MIT Media Lab has more than one model in stock. They have a car model, but I particularly like their retractable scooter concept.

"The RoboScooter is a lightweight, folding, electric motor scooter. It is designed to provide convenient, inexpensive mobility in urban areas while radically reducing the negative effects of extensive vehicle use – road congestion, excessive consumption of space for parking, traffic noise, air pollution, carbon emissions that exacerbate global warming, and energy use. It is clean, green, silent, and compact."


Scooter. Image by Michael Chia-Liang Lin


Posted by Cati Vaucelle
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