sacro bosco (11. 942)

Mentioned in a recent post, we thoroughly enjoyed this tour of the sixteenth century Park of Monsters in Bomarzo. The mannerist style complex set amongst the wooded hills was commissioned by Duke Pier Francesco Orsini, designed by Pirro Ligorio and Simone Moschino, and is considered to be among the oldest sculpture gardens in the world. Intended to shock visitors, grotesques include many figures from classical mythology (see also) as well as fearsome real creatures represented like bears, lions and Hannibal’s alpine-crossing war elephants. The pictured god of the Underworld, Orcus, punisher of broken oaths in Etruscan and Roman traditions, and bears the inscription “Ogni pensiero vola” (All thoughts fly) on his upper lip—demonstrated by the fact that when one enters this Hell Mouth, the acoustics amplify and project any whisper—and was a favourite dining spot for guests. The gardens fell into disrepair during the nineteenth century and it was due to a painting and short documentary by Salvador Dalí in the 1950s that the park was rediscovered and rehabilitated.

synchronoptica 

one year ago: assorted links worth the revisit (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: AI generated people, vanlife, the Genius of Evil plus transforming blighted trees into sculpture

eight years ago: more links to enjoy

nine years ago: heritage railways plus even more links

ten years ago: TTIP

möbelhaus (11. 941)

Voluntarily IKEA is pledging six million euro to a fund to compensate East German prisoners forced to make furniture for the company. As was the case with several western firms during the 1970s and 1980s, the Swedish lifestyle purveyor subcontracted production to the GDR, including forced labour of the incarcerated, many imprisoned by the regime for political reasons, a misdeed that the company has been trying to redress through government channels since it first came to light in 2011, hoping other companies would follow their example. The first store in West Germany opened in Eching, near Munich in 1974 and the first outlet in the former East in 1990 within a month of reunification.

funkopope (11. 940)

Though scheduled to debut at a comics con to be held in Lucca this week, the selected mascot for the Vatican’s upcoming jubilee Luce, a guiding light for the theme of 2025: Pilgrims of Hope will have her real premiere alongside another iconic anime figure in Sanrio’s Hello Kitty in a collaboration to bring awareness on the diversity of algae during the Osaka Expo, albeit in a separate pavilion under the auspices of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelisation (Praedicate evangelium, a department of the Roman Curia, under the leadership of pro-prefect Salvatore ”Rino” Fisichella), hosting a space for “Luce and Friends”—Fe, Xin and Sky with her dog Santino. Dressed in hiking gear with mud-stained galoshes, there’s a shimmer of shell in her eyes, recalling the scallop symbol of the Camino de Santiago and organisers hope the group will resonate with the youth. The jubilee year begins on Christmas Eve with the opening of the Holy Door of St Peter’s and runs through Epiphany 2026.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Don Giovanni (with synchronoptica), a thesis paper on ASCII art plus The Devil’s Ball

seven years ago: more clever compositions from Christopher Niemann plus the US Stock Market Crash of 1929

eight years ago: Tabby’s Star, Geocities archived, Swiss Rail accepting bitcoin, new neighbours, more map projections plus an x-rated haunting

nine years ago: Odysseus and Circe, phenakistoscope animations plus IKEA plush toys

ten years ago: Roman Wiesbaden, paintings of big-eyed children plus a German gag political party

a night at the garden (11. 939)

With clear echoes of a 1939 held at the same venue advertised as a pro-America rally presented by the German-American Bund (see previously here, here and here), the Trump campaign and surrogates presented their one of their final (the US respects no concept of purdah) appeals with one full week left to try to secure votes, we are given a noteworthy look at the statements given that the committee to reelect Trump did not distance themselves from after taking exception with the characterisation of Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage in the ocean” apparently levelled as the denizens cannot vote in federal elections but retracted as not to offend the diaspora of this historically misadvantaged territory, though not condemning racist language from the same presenter and successively crass and disturbing characterisations and threats by other speakers, including an appearance by disgraced former New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani. Though many in the opposition and the media could draw the parallels to the late 1930s gathering above, the only explicit reference during the event was made by wrestler Hulk Hogan, making a dramatic entrance and exclaiming, “I don’t see any stinking Nazis here!”  The headliner teased about our “little secret” with the Speaker of the House, leaving the audience to draw their own conclusions, ostensibly telling on himself and plans to declare a victory regardless of the outcome.

manna from heaven (11. 938)

Via the New Shelton wet/dry we are directed to an omnibus article on the research and development of producing food out of air, profiling some of the two dozen firms around the world seeking to transform carbon dioxide and water (see previously here and here) into an alternative protein-source, flavouring a substrate of desiccated cell walls of autotrophic, soil-dwelling bacteria. Using a fermentation process already well established in the production of insulin and the rennet enzymes for cheesemaking (eliminating the need to harvest it from the stomach lining of calves), scientists working for these biotech startups have isolated a highly palatable bacterium that thrives in captivity and have launched demonstration farms to show the concept’s viability to mill a nutritious flour and meal using a fraction of the land—allowing more opportunities for the rewilding of fields and pastures—and resources it required for traditional farming. While commercial-scale production is in sight, the largest hurdle remaining may be convincing the public to adopt such a diet of microbes that foregoes the folkways of cooking.

il giardino dei tarocchi (11. 937)

Messy Nessy Chic correspondent Francky Knapp turns our attention to artist Niki de Saint Phalle through her monumental landscaping project, one of her final works, that transformed a an ancient Etruscan quarry (preserving the ruins) into an esoteric park open to the public informed by figures in the tarot deck. The sculpture garden was inspired by de Saint Phalle’s visits to Gaudí’s Parc Güell and Parco dei Mostri (the sixteenth century sacred grove in northern Lazio filled with monstrous figures) and was begun in 1979 and opened in 1998. Mirrors and mosaics adorn the twenty-two greater Mysteries (the major arcana—see previously here and here) in this corner of Tuscany, and much more about the artist can be found at the link above and the garden’s website.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the coat of arms of Bill Clinton (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: the passage of an interstellar comet, Trump in Korea, public sparkling water fountains in Paris plus AI suggests costume ideas

eight years ago: assorted links to revisit 

nine years ago: micromorts plus more links to enjoy

ten years ago: a condensed history of quarantines

9x9 (11. 936)

die krümelmonster: in 2013 the German version of Cookie Monster pilfered and ransomed the golden Leibniz Kek for charity  

bad map projection #102: a blended USA / Australia gazette that almost works 

0,1 arcsec: hunting for dark matter and dark energy the Euclid space telescope (previously) unveils a dazzlingly 3D map of one percent of the Cosmos—via Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links  

bob & carol & martin & barbara: various adaptations of a comedy about partner-swapping during the sexual revolution  

red lion passage: alleyways of London then and now  

bokeh and backscatter: spirit photography and the history of the medium— the New Shelton wet/dry  

clockwork universe: The Birth of the Robot by Len Lye—see previously  

geoconfirmed: a volunteer group tagging the space-time coordinates for footage of conflict zones to combat disinformation  

cheese heist: using an elaborate scam, £300 000 pilfered from artisan cheddar makers—see previously—via jwz

ghosta nova (11. 935)

The latest musical animation from Louie Zong (see previously) brings back our departed duo for a harmonising session under the Brazilian moonlight with a distinct Rio bossa nova flair—including the nice detail of a looming ghostly statue in the background towards the end. Find all the iterations of this seasonal serenade at the artist’s Youtube channel and website. ¡Laiálaiá!