Under the tutelage of Virginia Lee Burton Demetrios, the all-women’s group in a Massachusetts community from the 1940s to the late 1960s cultivated the art of block-printed fabric patterns informed by their personal experiences and narratives (see also—too bad there was nothing truly subversive like a housewife’s vengeance represented but maybe there were subtle acts of rebellion in themselves), from home economics, local, vernacular architecture and family outings. Click through the link above for more on this community of printmakers.
Monday 13 November 2023
Friday 3 November 2023
8x8 (11. 093)
outsider art: revisiting the narrative embroidery of Agnes Richter and other works in the Prinzhorn Collection
market sundries: the paper bag baron of the East End—via Strange Company
the crispy r: more on rhoticity and unusual consonantpentimenti: conservators reveal a hidden demonic figure in Joshua Reynold’s “The Death of Cardinal Beaufort”—see also
the statistical breviary: an overview of the history of digital design
uno, dos, tres, quatro, cinco, cinco, seis: DJ Cummerbund (previously) presents a mashup of the The Offspring and Boney M—with quite a few other musical cameos
face-hugger: the parasitic crustacean Phronima sedentaria was the inspiration for Ridley Scott’s Alien
sgraffito: the alleged safe-room where Michelangelo hid from his political enemies, decorated with his anatomical and engineering studies opens to the public
Friday 27 October 2023
9x9 (11. 078)
page rank: the SEO trend of naming establishments X Near Me seems to actually drive customers—via Waxy
cyanea pohaku: a species of tree discovered right before it was driven to extinction
saint eom: the psychedelic compound of folk artist and fortune-teller Eddie Owens Martin outside of Buena Vista in the US state of Georgia and listed on the National Register of Historic Places
usonian homes: a pair of Frank Lloyd Wright (see previously) houses on the market in Kalamazoo in the US state of Michigansaob: the official Swedish dictionary published after one hundred forty years of work
the united states of guns: another sadly evergreen post about how an armed society is not a free society
happiness hotel: a luxury kennel once occupied the grounds of New York City’s Lincoln Center
report
of my death having been most industriously circulated by several of the
london daily newspapers, would the times permit me to contradict the
same through your valuable columns and refute the account: sculptor John Ternouth, designer of the plinth for Nelson’s Column, was surprised to learn of his premature demise—via Strange Company
i am altering the deal—pray i don’t alter it any further: Amazon’s Alexa is ending inoperability support with severe punishment for those who try to hack their way around it
outsider art (11. 077)
Via the latest instalment of Clive Thompson’s Linkfest, we are directed to the story and gallery showing of
catagories: ๐ฆ๐บ, ๐จ, libraries and museums
Wednesday 25 October 2023
8x8 (11. 074)
hilma af: a planned towering gallery for the Swedish artist realised as a virtual reality experience
papercraft: gorgeous moderne four palette architectural models to make
the book of hallowe’en: a 1919 illustrated, syncretic study of the appropriated holiday in the spirit of the Golden Boughswarm charms: a go-to guide of medieval bee spells
trainspotting: an omnibus post on avoiding rail collisions including a nineteen century timetable still in use
reconstruction: the sounds of ancient languages—see also
the logo is formed from minifig hands: the new LEGO Dune playset
flow-chart: a study on the abandoned shopping-carts of America
you may touch the artefacts: a gallery of early internet relics from Neal Agarwal—see previously
one year ago: further adventures in Crete
two years ago: the US Invasion of Granada (1971)
three years ago: a hexadecagonal country retreat, SS Crispin and Crispinian plus pandemic gods and heroes
four years ago: a lyrical headline (1924), a video game atlas plus the world’s first erotic boutique proprietress
five years ago: The Master Key of Futurity, virtual restaurants and ghost kitchens plus programming a more ethical Pac Man
Tuesday 24 October 2023
digitalis (11. 073)
A new data-poisoning tool allows artists to fight back against generative AI by allowing them to make invisible alterations to pixels so when their data is scraped—without consent or compensation—for training, causing the output to verge in chaotic directions. Called Nightshade, these subtle changes could have significant down-stream effects for later iterations of what’s become mostly recursive machine learning. The industry faced with numerous lawsuits over this unauthorised sampling, the application’s creator hopes that this method—which reminds me of trap streets on maps, fake entries in dictionaries and other honeypots—will create a deterrent for such infringement.
Wednesday 11 October 2023
9x9 (11. 052)
bennu: scientist reveal recovered sample of primordial dust from an asteroid (see previously) may help us better understand the formation of the Solar System
mansions, pensions: revisiting the dwellings of Leonora Carrington (previously) and how they informed her art
upscale: Adobe to introduce an AI-powered extension to improve the quality, loopiness of legacy, low-resolution GIFspimeyes: the reverse image search technology that can retrace one’s digital detritus
decide which elvis is king: the consequential public debate over a commemorative US postage stamp
the golden horseshoe: UK’s Natural History Museum unveils the winners of Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition—via Nag on the Lake
beasts: Nigel Kneale’s 1976 horror anthology has a book companion to the series
tower to cockpit: listen live to airport radio transmissions around the world—via the new shelton wet/dry
panspermia: a thought-provoking conjecture about alien life emerging with the Big Bang
Sunday 8 October 2023
play well (11. 046)
Tuesday 26 September 2023
tarotic art (11. 025)
We appreciated this introduction to surrealist painter and social justice activist Leonora Carrington through her esoteric series inspired and informed by the iconography of the Major Arcana, whose symbolism is reflected everyone when one is ready for it. First exposed to the movement in the works of Max Ernst at the International Surrealist Exhibition, both artists later met, bonded and married, collaborating on projects and supporting one another’s work. Having settled outside of Paris, French authorities arrested the German Ernst with the outbreak of World War II as a “hostile alien.” Remanded to Germany, Ernst was taken into custody again by the Gestapo as a promoter of degenerate art. Dealt quite a hand and inconsolable over the detention of her husband (Ernst later was able to escape and flee to the US with the help of Peggy Guggenheim) and on the verge of a psychotic breakdown, Carrington agreed to a course of treatment in an asylum in Spain and underwent a regiment of electroshock therapy and powerful drugs. Carrington’s parents decided to then send her to a sanatorium in South Africa for continued care. Escaping en route in Portugal, Carrington sought refuge at the Mexican consulate and arranged a marriage-of-convenience to the ambassador so as to be liberated from the custody of her family and given the diplomatic immunity to travel. Ernst married Guggenheim, with Carrington joining a community of exiles in Mexico, where she was also a champion of women’s rights. Carrington’s body of work reflects Mesoamerican folkways and matriarchal traditions that whose points of departure limn her own biography. More from Hyperallergic at the link up top.
catagories: ๐ฌ๐ง, ๐ฒ๐ฝ, ๐, ๐จ, libraries and museums
Wednesday 6 September 2023
pict, png and svg (10. 986)
Although a bit surprised that the fabled auction house is yet trying to make NFTs a collectible, no matter has the public now gets to enjoy a never-before seen series of digital painting from the artist Keith Haring. From Boing Boing, Haring was gifted an Amiga computer in 1986 from his friend Timothy Leary in hopes that the artist would contribute to his project to promote a planned cinematic adaptation of the cyberpunk novel Neuromancer after witnessing Haring engaging with a Macintosh Steve Jobs brought to the birthday party of John Lennon’s son Sean (see also)—mostly to entertain the kids but other guests, including Andy Warhol were rather taken with the medium. Neither above venture quite came to fruition though, Haring was happy to experiment—and proceeds from the sale go to a good cause.
Thursday 31 August 2023
8x8 (10. 973)
energy makes time: a resonant essay about how doing those essential things enables everything else—via Kottke
kopienkritik: Ancient Roman souvenirs and mementos limn their culture and makes their lived experience more accessible—see previously
⏰: a clock correlated to YouTube videos that mention the current time—see previously—from Russell Samora—via Waxymotes: what the tiniest specks of dust reveal about the world—via Damn Interesting—see also
honky chรขteau: more on the Abbey Road of the Val d’Oise—see previously
coenties slip: the East River waterfront street that was witness to New York City’s cultural evolution—via tmn
e-meter: the Church of Scientology urge the US government to walk-back right-to-repair legislation—via Slashdot
a spell against indifference: Maria Popova laments her discounting of the power of poems—via Swiss Miss
synchronoptica
one year ago: RIP Mikhail Gorbachev, Rolling Stones’ Street Fighting Man (1968) plus more Gorbymania
two years ago: assorted links to revisit, numeracy and conspicuous calculation plus the animation studio of John Hubley
three years ago: Dungeon Master for Halloween, the Gdaลsk Social Accords (1980), more links to revisit, Lincoln Logs (1920) plus Tom Hiddleston as macaroons
five years ago: a LEGO Bugatti, a corporate logo font, an intimate rave at Stonehenge plus the art and maps of Jo Mora
six years ago: unexploded munitions from WWII prompts an evacuation in Frankfurt plus more links to enjoy
Wednesday 30 August 2023
)|( (10. 971)
Via Hyperallergic, we are introduced to the art of Victor Ekpuk through an exhibit revealing social injustice through a patteran of secret symbols developed by the Ekpe of southeastern Nigeria called Nsibidi (see previously). As a contributor to the state-run press under the dictatorship of General Ibrahim Babangida in the 90s, Ekpuk developed his practise, along with satire and allegory, in defiance of increasing government censorship to call attention to corruption and inequality. More to explore at the links above.
synchronoptica
one year ago: the Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Britain’s Manhattan Project plus assorted links to revisit
two years ago: a collection of news music, more links to enjoy, Hey Jude (1968) plus a headline grabbing spectacle from 1871
three years ago: the Washington-Moscow hotline (1963) plus suburban, subterranean fantasy worlds
five years ago: more links worth revisiting, Everybody Dance Now, plus a Rex Factor-style podcast on the lives of the popes
six years ago: kudzu farming
catagories: ๐, ๐จ, ๐ฃ, libraries and museums
Tuesday 15 August 2023
die bauhausausstellung von 1923 (10. 945)
Opening on this day in Weimar and running for the next six weeks, the exhibition was the first public presentation of the art and architecture movement founded in 1919, and advertised in around one-hundred train stations with Oskar Schlemmer’s Bauhaus logo (the event delayed due individual presenting workshops wanting to prefect their items in accordance with the shift from handwork to industrial production and the poster stickered over), attracting around fifteen-thousand visitors. The first week included lectures by Walter Gropius and Wassily Kandinsky, ballets and concert performances and a procession with lanterns and fireworks. Installations included a model home, ceramics and various painting and building designs by contemporary figures such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier. Occurring during the height of the Great Depression, the exhibition became of symbol of the culture war simmering in Germany with praise and enthusiasm on one side for the school’s creative and educational goals and roundly rejected by conservative leaning critics who felt strengthened in their position by the relative financial failure.
Tuesday 8 August 2023
33 spaceships for another planet (10. 931)
Via friend of the blog Nag on the Lake, we thoroughly enjoyed contemplating these otherworldly compositions by Karla Knight that use schemata and alien glyphs to craft evoking something ancient and pictogrammatic. Check out Knight’s whole portfolio here and explore how her work is a study in evolving diagrams and flow-charts.
synchronoptica
one year ago: Nixon resigns (1974) plus assorted links to revisit
two years ago: your daily demon: Berlith plus another MST3K classic to enjoy
three years ago: motivational sessions for the long-distance runner, Xanadu (1980) plus a selection of LEGO user-interfaces
four years ago: Abbey Road (1969) plus more on the very American problem of gun violence
five years ago: more McMansion Hell, a World War I Allied advance, Trump brand asbestos plus more links worth the revisit
Sunday 30 July 2023
9x9 (10. 915)
polly pocket: following the success of Barbie, all the Mattel branded toys promised their own feature films
freshmen fifteen: a nifty conversion tool in the style of Neal.Fun—via Pasa Bon!
ugly american: the dark side of trends in tourism—via Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links (lots more to check out here)a sunday in the park with georges: the pointillist work by Seurat recreated in Wisconsin—see previously
eimreiรฐin: what became of trains in Iceland
you gotta pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues: we appreciated this reminiscence about the Ringo Starr tune
meteorological optical phenomenon: more on the Sun’s green flash as it disappears from the horizon
seybold seminars: the outsized influence of desktop publishing conferences—see also
return to tender: another exquisite John and Faith Hubley short courtsey of Fancy Notions
Friday 28 July 2023
7x7 (10. 912)
barbieworld: a survey of a thousand advertisements contextualises the box-office phenomenon—see also
gigo: a fundamental law of computing will ultimately thwart digital dictatorships
lake berryessa: Dorothea Lange (previously) documented the flooding of a Napa Valley community in the 1950s—via Strange Companychamber music: a poorly received Baroque Beatles Book from 1965
i want to do whatever common people people do: a new genre was born in the sixteenth century when Pieter Bruegel began specialising in peasants, merchants and mongers
word vectors: a bit of demystifying for Large Language Models—via Waxy
a census-designated place: explore Oppenheimer’s secret city of Los Alamos
Wednesday 26 July 2023
the salon (10. 907)
As part of their series of off-cycle, off-topic minisodes and in solidarity with the beleaguered entertainment community, we really enjoyed this latest instalment from the Flop House that rather brilliantly (especially well executed considering it’s an audio medium) pit a series of masterpieces of fine paintings up against one another in a variation of the game of Hug, Marry, Kill—Admire, Acquire or condemn to the Pyre.
Wednesday 12 July 2023
7x7 (10. 877)
stand and deliver: the internecine factions of the US Democratic Party and the legacy of political triangulation
divide-and-conquer: Hollywood studios plan to drag out the Writers’ Strike until they’re destitute ground into submission—via Kottke
rho ophiuchi: for its first year of observations, the JWST team releases an incredible image of the nearest stellar nursery—check out the comments section for an explanation about the telescope’s signature diffraction spikesma’am, this is a wendy’s: chatbots—rather than outsourcing to call-centres—being trialled in fast food drive-thrus and are skilled in the upsell
xai: Elon Musk launches artificial intelligence platform with aims to understand the true nature of the Universe
pay-for-play: Albrecht Dรผrer inserted himself at the centre of a commissioned altarpiece in a dispute over his fee—via Damn Interesting
by the dawn’s early light: plans to build a billion dollar, half-a-kilometre high flagpole in Western Maine—where the Sun’s first light hits the country—has its detractors
Wednesday 28 June 2023
10x10 (10. 840)
⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️: Neal Fun’s (previously) infuriating password game
ceiling cat: the European Souther Observatory in the Chilean mountains discovered a feline nebula
bad odds: wagering on climate change to bring the danger and risk to present and personal
backstage: newsletters (from 1962 to 1980) published for Disneyland crew members, scanned in full—via Super Punch
homage to magritte: a 1974 tribute in five vignettes to the Surrealist artistindependent legislature theory: US Supreme Court strikes down suit that would cut checks and balances and judicial review of laws passed
monkey bars: the first jungle gym (see previously) was built in hopes of teaching children about three-dimensional space and Cartesian coordinates
magma: mining volcanoes could provide a more ecologically-friendly way to extract metals
power of ten: NASA’s coding commandments focused on testability, readability and predictability that keeps critical systems safe and running in outer space
goodnight phone: an interactive web comic for our shared present—via tmn
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit plus a surprise session of the January Sixth hearings on the US Capitol Insurrections
two years ago: body language, the UN International Criminal Court (1993), Miss Continuous Towel and other spokesmodels plus Pitman shorthand
three years ago: a corporate typeface, a performative masculine simulator game, Martian meteors plus cataloguing one’s possessions
four years ago: the Stonewall Riots (1969), surveying Titan plus bringing back the chestnut tree
five years ago: Paul Simon on Sesame Street, silent cooking videos, assorted links to revisit plus combating fake product reviews
Saturday 24 June 2023
zeg de mensen dat homoseksuelen niet per definitie zwakkelingen zijn (10. 829)
Through his portfolio, Europeana presents a profile in Zivilcourage from the very open author and artist Willem Arondรฉus, who designed murals for various Dutch city halls and redesigns of coats-of-arms as well as illustration work before turning his interests towards poetry, writing and reporting and eventually turning his talents to the anti-Nazi resistance movement under the occupation, forging identity papers and establishing an underground periodical. He worked in concert through much of this period with conductor, cellist and prominent lesbian Frieda Belinfante. In March of 1943, Arondรฉus joined a conspiracy to bomb the Amsterdam public records office to thwart the Nazis ability to identify Jews and others. The group was apprehended months later and thanks to Arondรฉus’ guilty plea and accepting blame for the entire plan may have spared some of the members from execution, a few remanded to custody, but Arondรฉus himself and thirteen others were tried and sentenced, murdered by the Nazis on the first of July, with his last defiant words (wanting it to be known that he and two other co-conspirators were gay) relayed as, “Tell people that homosexuals are not cowards.” The liberated government of the Netherlands honoured him through a posthumous medal to his family in 1945 with broader recognition in the decades to follow.
synchronoptica
one year ago: Germany lifts abortion restrictions as US Supreme Court overturns Roe v Wade plus a river cruise on the Rhein
two years ago: the works of Robert Rotar, a Roman holiday, the Lullus bell cast in 1038, assorted links to revisit plus Cubist cars
three years ago: a concert for houseplants, the Battle of Bamber Bridge (1943), COVID-era travel restrictions plus Ford’s Futurama (1939)
four years ago: the Canadian National anthem (1880) plus more on warming stripes
five years ago: places not to die, the camera used in NASA missions—in LEGO form plus David Bowie as sea slugs
catagories: ๐ณ๐ฑ, ๐จ, ๐ณ️๐, ๐