April 2013 Archives

The Gasometer Oberhausen is a former natural gas storage tank, the largest of its type in Europe, which was converted into an art exhibition space in the 1990s. Using the unique nature of the space Christo (yes that Christo) has created the Big Air Package, the largest skeleton-free inflated envelope ever, at 90 meters high, 50 meters in diameter containing 170,000 cubic-meters of air (or there abouts). The envelops is 20,350 square meters of polyester fabric and 4,500 meters of rope, weighing a total of 5.3 tons. Two large fans keep the internal pressure at 27 pascals, which is enough to support the fabric.

It was, according to the press release, conceived by Christo in 2010 and will be on display from March through December 2013. He goes on to say, "when experienced from the inside, that space is almost like a 90-meter-high cathedral,"

Envelope during assembly	From ground-level, looking up
Envelope during assembly	Side with Gasometer structure
The man himself	Top of the Package, from outside

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Proof that some multi-billion dollar congolmerates still have a sense of humor, the following is the cover of the SWATCH Group's(previously mentioned) 2012 annual report, complete with parody arms for each Canton

Here's a higher-resolution image of just the coats of arms:

If you live in the Confederation, you can buy a special limited-edition SWATCH, the D'Schwizer, for about 100 CHF with all the arms on it. If you don't, you may not be Swiss enough to get the jokes, so here's some help from wikipedia.
(source and source)
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As it's the Basel/SIHH time of year, all sorts of watch brands are coming out of nowhere to promote their vision of timekeeping. From the heretofore unknown brand Breva comes the Genie 01, "the world's first wristwatch with time, altimeter, barometer for forecasting the weather and power reserve indications provided by a fully mechanical movement." Basically it's got a small mechanical barometer jammed into a manually-wound movement, with a mechanism for compensating for altitude. Like so many oddities of this decade, it was realized by Jean François Mojon of Chronode.

Specs

• Case
  • 18kt Gold, white or rose
  • 44.7mm x 15.6 mm
  • 30m Water Resistance
• Movement
  • 46 jewels
  • 65h power reserve

Dial-side of the watch	Closeup of the timekeeping dial
Closeup of the Barometer Dial	Closeup of the altitude compensation scale

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Apparently several years ago Ikea put out a cookbook, or something like it.  It's photography of the ingredients, carefully architected, for example the parts of a princess-cake

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I know it's out of date, but I liked the image for the Year of the Rat

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There was recently an exhibit on Sumerian art in Barcelona, though it closed at the end of February.  One bit of it that has persisted is a 15 minute segment of an interview with Gonzalo Rubio, in English.  It's available online (you need MS Starlight)

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