vector construction

The always stunning Colossal features a beautiful wire mesh project of artist Edoardo Tresoldi, which recreates the frame—as suggested by the archaeological evidence—of an early church once located at this site in Puglia.
Though the structure appears rather gossamer, it is quite substantial and hosts the different architectural elements that would have supported the original building. Though in our minds’ eye, the tragic loss of the historic heritage in places like Palmyra at the brutal hands of the Cosplay Caliphate is cemented already as exquisite ruins and Tresoldi’s architecture, though true to form, is more inspired and interpretive rather than memorial, perhaps his talent could be deployed to showcase some of the other scars of warfare that weren’t captured in the spotlight of mindless infamy. Be sure to visit the artist’s profile at the link up top to see some more of his signature installations.

cheese it, the mads are calling!

Although never wholly out of sight and out of mind with projects like Cinematic Titanic and live-shows in the years since Mystery Science Theater 3000 went out of syndication, there has never been a reunion event to get the all the Mads and their hapless experimental subjects back together again. As Mental Floss happily reports, they’ll be on stage late this summer but tickets are going on sale shortly. In case you are curious, the name of this blog is an homage to players of MST3K.

decade or joyful mysteries

I spied an unusual piece at the Flohmarkt today, which I was eager to learn more about. It is indeed a single decade (referring to the ten round beads around the circumference that represents one iteration of Hail Mary) rosary ring, but like traditional rosary are not to be worn around the neck, this counter is meant to be rotated with the thumb and forefinger.
Inspired by Basque and Irish designs for more discreet articles of the faith when practising Catholicism was persecuted, these were also distributed to soldiers going off to battle so as not to get tangled up, especially during WWI. One could keep count of the traditional five decades by moving the ring to the next finger.  I am not sure if this is one of those, since it has the microscopic inscription ITALY on the obverse but perhaps as it is intricately worked and I am happy to have learnt something more about praying the rosary.

go canada!

Collectors’ Weekly curates a fine gallery of the collected and concerted advertising campaigns of the Canadian-Pacific holiday-making enterprise.
From the earliest days when the trans-continental railroad was complete, the company ran a screen-printing workshop, employing some of the finest graphic artists, like Thomas Hall and Norman Fraser, to create iconic and timeless travel posters to allure travelers to venture far and wide within its expanded empire that progressed from trains, to planes, cruise-liners and even resort hotels. Be sure to visit Collectors’ Weekly to be treated to much more of this dazzling, vintage ephemera.