project a1119

In response to the Sputnik crisis (previously here and here) and to boost American morale and reassert its dominance in the Space Race, the US Air Force developed a top-secret plan in May of 1958 to launch and detonate a nuclear bomb on the lunar surface.
This planned show of power was underwritten in part by geologists wanting to learn more about the satellite’s composition and formation and the team included a young Carl Sagan (*1934 - †1996). Ultimately better sense prevailed and the US (along with the Soviet Union who had a similar project in the works) called off the stunt for fear of public backlash and the uncertainty about the effects of fall-out for future colonists. The plan itself was not revealed to the public until forty-five years later in the mid-1990s, in part through Sagan’s 1999 autobiography, but did have more immediate impact with the Outer Space Treaty, accorded a decade later.

form and purpose

The always brilliant Present /&/ Correct (check out their sundries) shares an excellent design resource in this full and open archive of the East German design trade magazine form+zweck. In print from 1956 to 2008 originally under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, featured articles focused on design and architectural developments domestically and abroad. Much more to explore at the links above—especially the dazzling covers which easily translate in any context.

something for nothing

In contrast to the way as Rube Goldberg machine came to be a metaphor for an overly elaborate means to achieving a simple goal in America during the interbellum years, in the UK during the Great War a “Heath Robinson Contraption” became synonymous with improvised ingenuity and came out of the “make do and mend” attitude of rationing and austerity.  Both cartoonists studied the rewarding eccentricities of over-complicating tasks but Robinson’s vision was rather genius even if that resided in the sort of engineered clockwork that demanded constant tinkering and adjustment to keep the show going. A particularly cantankerous deciphering machine at Bletchley Park used to decode Nazi Germany radio communications was called “Health Robinson” in his honour. Peruse a whole gallery of Robinson’s artifices at the link up top.

7x7

electronium: a classic electronic music sequencer from pioneer Raymond Scott is reinvented with an artificial intelligence software patch

sacred spaces: Thibaud Poirier photographs modern church interiors

the right to be forgotten: internet giant allows users to control if and for how long it retains one’s data

spoorzone: a self-sustaining bus station in Tilburg

b(7)b: a handy guide to the re-categorised information withholds of the latest version of the Mueller Report released to the public

h. p. loveshack: ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn

hic sunt dracones: an interactive map of legends from English Heritage—via Maps Mania  

talky tina

Having first encountered the strange and robust marketplace in haunted dolls through the excellent podcast Oh No Ross & Carrie, I enjoyed this follow-up and expansion on the topic—via Messy Nessy Chic.
One is course paying for the menacing narrative and the tragic backstory to account for these cursed, possessed artefacts and most auctions are conducted with a strict no return policy and sold “as is.” Though we yet mourn for weird, niche eBay, allowing the sale of such items signals a departure from the company’s restriction on the trafficking in souls and the sale of metaphysical services, such as casting spells. Learn more about this strange phenomena and antecedents at the links above.

die unendliche anziehungskraft der natur

Inspired by a sketch executed in 1971 by fellow Austrian Max Peinter (*1937, a cousin of Ettore Sottsass) called “The Unending Attraction of Nature” art collector Klaus Littmann will bring the picture to life by transplanting a forest of trees in the sports stadium of the industrial city of Klagenfurt as public art installation of the same name.
Calling the government officials out for their inaction on climate change and habit loss (lifestyle choices do matter and have an impact but the real and difficult sacrifice is in legislating the polluters), Littmann fears that in the near future, such displays of Nature might in fact be within the purview of the viewing platform or gallery, like animals in zoos. They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum. Once the project concludes (9 September – 27 October 2019), the trees will be given a permanent home at a nearby location on public lands.

art of the title

Via an art round-up (with more choice curations to explore) from Super Punch, we are introduced to ad man and award-winning titleist Georg Elliott Olden (*1920 - †1975).
As the grandson of an enslaved individual from Birmingham, Alabama Olden did not conform to the Mad Men stereotypes of corporate design during the Golden Age of Television and played an influential role in shaping the fledgling medium, starting to work with CBS in 1945 at a time before other African Americans pioneers began making the slow but steady progress towards more equitable treatment, inclusion and acceptance.
Also a prolific postage stamp designer, Olden’s submission was chosen to commemorate the centenary of the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order delivered by Abraham Lincoln on New Year’s Day 1863—which Olden unveiled with President Kennedy at a White House ceremony. Find out more about Georg Olden from his American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) biography and explore a gallery of his commissions at the link above.