Thursday 29 October 2009

Amanita Design's MACHINARIUM

Our friends over at Amanita Design have released their first full length game in the form of the visually intriguing and mentally taxing Machinarium. Try it out HERE for free by way of the first three levels and visit the Amanita website to try their other classics.



Links:
Machinarium
Introducing Amanita Design (SiouxWIRE)
Amanita Design

Monday 26 October 2009

MIKE BOOTH, Graham Murkett, and the Bolex Brothers

Animator and director Mike Booth's work crosses boundaries often times with thoughtful and downright funny results. See some of his work below or follow the links as usual at the end of this post.

NOTE: Some his material is certainly not "work-friendly".

From Screenplay Productions Ltd. UK...

Mike Booth began working in animation in 1995 at Aardman Animations, and since then has worked as a freelance stop-motion animator on numerous commercials, short films, and a few children's series. In 1996 he wrote and directed The Saint Inspector, a short film produced by BolexBrothers that won twelve international awards and was nominated for a BAFTA. In 1998 he directed another award-winning short for Channel 4, Little Dark Poet, and was later one of the scriptwriters on Angry Kid, a series of comedic sketches that appeared on BBC3. He has written four feature film scripts of varying degrees of terribleness, and several sitcom pilots that were just too weird to ever see the light of day. Since 2000 Mike has been working more on 2D animated projects using After Effects and Flash. His series of animated vlogs Some Grey Bloke, voiced by Mike, has appeared fortnightly on YouTube since the summer of 2007.



What Facebook is for (2009)


Little Dark Poet (1999)



My ExWife 3 (2009)


The Saint Inspector (1996)

Links:
SomeGreyBloke (YouTube)
Graham Murkett & Other Odditites (Blog)
Bolex Brothers
Screenplay Productions Ltd.
Mike Booth (IMDB)

Thursday 22 October 2009

VEOLIA Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009

The winning shot The Storybook Wolf from José Luis Rodríguez (Spain) for Veolia's 2009 Wildlife Photographer of the Year is stunning.

EDIT: José Luis Rodríguez was disqualified which in the terms laid down for this particular contest clearly detract from its achievement. That said, it still evokes a lot of feeling though, perhaps, with a little less dimension. How sad. LINK

"When José Luis realized he had got the shot of his dreams he couldn't believe it. His fear had been that the wolves would be too wary. Iberian wolves have been persecuted by people who see them as a threat to game and livestock and because of ignorance about the supposed danger they pose. Even though they have always lived close to humans, there are no verified incidences of them attacking people. In Spain, the population of Iberian wolves - a subspecies of the grey wolf - is thought to number 1000-2000 in the north, with a few tiny, isolated populations in the south. José Luis risked a slow shutter-speed to reveal the moonlit sky and conjure up the atmosphere of the place. He switched from using his Nikon D2X to a Hasselblad so he could get the exact framing that he had in mind. What José Luis hopes is that his picture, 'showing the wolf's great agility and strength,' becomes an image that shows just how beautiful the Iberian wolf is and how the Spanish can be proud of this emblematic animal."

Links:
Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009
Wildlife Award Stripped (Guardian)

Leaping Wolf Snatches Photo Prize

Wednesday 21 October 2009

HELMO: Colored Smoke

I am fond of this image from graphic designers Thomas Couderc and Clement Vauchez (HELMO) from their series Colored Smoke.

Links:
HELMO

Tuesday 20 October 2009

Monday 19 October 2009

RINKO KAWAUCHI

RINKO KAWAUCHI
Untitled, 2007
C-print, flush mounted on Plexiglass. 101.6 x 101.6 cm

I find Rinko Kawauchi's work meditative, beautiful, and infused with melancholy.

RINKO KAWAUCHI
Untitled, 2001
C-print on aludibond. 20 x 19.7 cm


RINKO KAWAUCHI
Untitled, from the series "the eyes, the ears", 2005


RINKO KAWAUCHI
Untitled, from the series "Condensation", 2009


Links:
Rinko Kawauchi (FOIL Gallery)
Rinko Kawauchi Interview (kopenhagen.dk)
Rinko Kawauchi (DesignBoom)
Rinko Kawauchi (ArtNet)
Rinko Kawauchi (Galerie Priska Pasquer)
Rinko Kawauchi (Photographer's Gallery)
Rinko Kawauchi (International Center of Photography)
Rinko Kawauchi Wiki

Asian Photography Blog (source)

Friday 16 October 2009

CRAIG STOKLE's "Bearing Darkness"


Craig Stokle's photographic series Bearing Darkness is worth a look. Potentious headlights shining in remote scenes at night from the likes of the Coen Brothers and David Lynch spring to mind.

I've experimented for some time with flash photography at night with some interesting results, but the apparent use of headlights in these images makes the unseen vehicle a part of the scene. See the whole series on Craig Stoke's site HERE.


Links:
Craig Stokle
wan.der.lust.ag.ra.phy (source)

Thursday 15 October 2009

MARIA FRIBERG


Maria Friberg is known more for her more literal studies into masculinity often featuring men in business suits, but I find her more oblique works to be more potent.




Links:
Maria Friberg
Maria Friberg (Conner Contemporary Art)
Maria Friberg (ArtNet)
Maria Friberg (Robischon Gallery)

Wednesday 14 October 2009

Tuesday 13 October 2009

COMPAGNIE TRANSE EXPRESS


The creation of Brigitte Burdin and Gilles Rhode in 1992, the Company Transe Express perform in unusual public spaces. My favourite is their Celestial Art or theatre in the sky favouring gigantic mobile constructions. Similar to La Machine and Royal de Luxe, their Gilliam-esque shows are wonderous and uplifting in their scope and execution.





« Celestial Art »… A Baroque or naïve expression ? A bazaar of accessories? Of too-heavy Angels hissed by groaning pulleys, blue golden skies, cotton clouds stuck to Columbus of escaped voices from the Sistine Chapel. Celestial fireworks? Machinery invented to overcome the Peasants? Plumes of nacre or the first wings of articulated wood… A genius deployed to rule the surrounding space does not escape the burlesque. Could this be a dare for space shuttles or sputniks?
- Sylvie Meunier,
Extract of book L’Art Céleste, théâtre au-dessus de la ville



Links:
Compagnie Transe Express (EN)
Transe Express (LeFourneau)
Transe Express (Flickr)

Sunday 11 October 2009

TAISUKE KOYAMA


I had seen and liked Taisuke Koyama's work before and struggled to get to grips with them, looking for something outside their titles (when there is one) to help sharpen them. I found the following statement from his site which aligns the compass somewhat...

"My works can be described as 'the organic abstract photography'. I shoots surface of the artifacts and the state and the details of the phenomenon as a part of the metabolism of the city, with my own perspective that the city changing every moment is an organism just like creature and nature."




Links:
Taisuke Koyama

Saturday 10 October 2009

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus TRAILER

The trailer for Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus promises so much and advance word thus far is very, very good. I can't wait.



Links:
doctorparnassus.com
IDP Blogspot
Trailer (YouTube)

Friday 9 October 2009

Thanks to those faraway


In the last year while things have been sporadic at best and static at worst as far as updates are concerned, things have been ticking over thanks to all of you visitors. The Imaginarium is nearing visitor 100,000 which is a humble milestone relative to some blogs but it wouldn't have happened without the unsolicited support I've received from around the globe.

Trawling through the visitors data, I wasn't surprised to find that our old friend Dek has contributed heavily toward traffic numbers on the Imaginarium from his site NoFatClips. I was also astonished to discover new and wonderful sites such as THIS, Sãosócoisas, and Zivvoug. Despite being non-English sites, through their links and media I've found kindreds; so heartening.

Also, thanks to all the other sites, subscribers and passers by who keep me going on fatigued, flu-burdened nights like this one.

Thursday 8 October 2009

JOCKUM NORDSTRӦM


I really enjoy Jockum Nordström's work and his varied expressions and media which include writing children's books, animation and designing album covers. There's a flavour in his work which reminds me of my friend Monika Forsberg's creations; perhaps Swedish?






Links:
Jockum Nordström (David Zwirner)
Jockum Nordström (ArtNet)
Jockum Nordström (Galleri Magnus Karlsson)
Jockum Nordström Wiki

Wednesday 7 October 2009

Thursday 1 October 2009

Introducing CARRIE SCHNEIDER


Carrie Schneider enigmatic and playful works seem to all have contrasts and contradictions.

From Carrie's biography:
Carrie Schneider earned her BFA from Carnegie Mellon University in 2001 and her MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2007. Upon graduating, Carrie attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and the Kuvataideakatemia (Finnish Academy of Fine Arts) in Helsinki, on a Fulbright Fellowship. Carrie lives and works in Chicago.






Links:
Carrie Schneider
Weloveyouso (source)
Carrie Schneider (Frieze)
Carrie Schneider (TimeOut Chicago)
Carrie Schneider (Frame)
Carrie Schneider interview (YouTube)

SiouxWIRE Snippets 10


Revealed: millions spent by lobby firms fighting Obama health reforms
Chris McGreat, The Guardian
Six lobbyists for every member of Congress as healthcare industry heaps cash on politicians to water down legislation

Free will is not an illusion after all
Anil Ananthaswamy, New Scientist
Champions of free will, take heart. A landmark 1980s experiment that purported to show free will doesn't exist is being challenged.

Reading Kafka 'enhances cognitive mechanisms', claims study
Alison Flood, The Guardian
Subjects who had just read Kafka's The Country Doctor were better at recognising patterns in grammar test, psychologists found

Artists Test Limits as China Lets (a Few) Flowers Bloom
Ian Johnson & Sky Canaves, The Wall Street Journal



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