Imagine if Burke & Wills had the internet. Off you go, bold explorer – but watch for the wrist R.S.I. .
Audiotourism
http://www.audiotourism.co.uk is the fine and gorgeous Designer’s Republic website for the fine and delicious album by Freeform, produced after wandering throught Vietnam and China, recording samples on a mini-disc player, returning to London with a mission to mash without destroying recognition of the original sample. The site’ll give a good idea of what Autechre’s stuttery swerve sounds like wok-fried, and the Boards of Canada were Shaolin Monks. Simon Pyke’s homepage has a few downloadables and label links too >> www.freefarm.co.uk.
Bronx Museum Highlights:
The NEXUM ATM is a new interactive video sculpture work presently available for Bronix-ites to wander in and play with. Luckily it’s also available online to play with, or how else would you explore the artist interpretation of the history of aggressive intervention by the United States toward ten small, poor and globally dispersed countries. If an interactive history of imperialism dating back from the 1820’s to the present by the United States, is your cuppa browser friendly tea, by all means click to : http://www.nexumatm.us/
Honey, I Decoded the Genome
Quite likely if you had three children with unfortunate diseases, you might pay more interest to how the human genome is being currently mapped and the implications of it’s possible privatisation. Click thru the www.salon.com Tech features, and the endless ads, and eventually you can read a thoroughly compelling story by John Sundman – who investigates the state of play with genome research and how it impacts his family. Wander to wetmachine.com and you’ll also find a gripping account of his epic self-publishing efforts and obstacles. Try not to order a book from him after reading~!
Video Pills
Aside from omniprescent viagara offers in ever more surreal attention grabbing headlines, I also a weekly dose of email from http://www.wordspy.com/. These usually involve a newly coined word or phrase, with an example citation. ‘Video Pill’ caught my attention recently, describing an ingestable camera approximately the size of a vitamin pill that transmits images from a person’s stomach and intestinal tract. Also known as an “M2A capsule” in the medical biz – refering to the route of the pill through the body.
Recommendo
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/
Website about interesting and useful gadgets hosted by one of the Wired magazine founders, Kevin Kelly. Predictably then, it borders on the fetishistic, when it isn’t drearily banal – gee, a new type of scissors, thanks. There are many provocative gems scattered amongst the oft-updated site though, amongst categories such as “Community, Conceptual Trends, Design, Health, Learning, Livelihood/Workplace, Media, Nomadics, Systems Tools & True Films.”
Stealth Graf & The British TATE Gallery
One of the world’s most famous museums received a ‘surprise’ addition to it’s walls recently. Banksy, UK graf & stencil artist, dressed himself up as a pensioner and stuck one of his own creations to the wall, titled ‘Crimewatch UK Has Ruined the Countryside For All of Us’. It wasn’t discovered until the painting fell to the floor some hours later, and was put forward by Banksy as a ‘short cut’: “To actually go through the process of having a painting selected must be quite boring. It’s a lot more fun to go and put your own one up. It’s all about cutting out the middle man, or the curator in the case of the Tate.”
A caption glued next to the painting read: “This new acquisition is a beautiful example of the neo post-idiotic style. Little is known about Banksy whose work is inspired by cannabis resin and daytime television.” The painting, the caption adds, was “presented by the artist personally 2003”.