Urban Stargazing - Royal College of Art 2011
Over time, society has developed a complex rhythm that demands we live in an environment artificially lit twenty-four hours a day preventing us from experiencing the natural lights coming from billions of light years away, shining and twinkling as soon as
the Sun sets to the west.
The Urban Stargazing project focuses on bringing back the stars in the city sky by recreating existing constellations and adding new ones, narrating old and contemporary myths about London. Twelve groups of stars have been installed at different locations
in the city, and can only be observed by the naked eye at night time.
Below is the map showing each constellation with their corresponding coordinates. To go on a stargazing walk, enter the latitude/longitude of any constellation on a web mapping application. Alternatively, follow the link to the Google map.
View Urban Stargazing in a larger map.
(Source: oscarlhermitte.com)
I am following the developments at Dale Farm, which is being forcefully evicted by the police since this morning. It may be that technically the people living at Dale Farm are ‘illegal’ by the letter of the law, but I seriously question the way in which the British Government and police force are being used to push through the law. I am not sure why there wasn’t a more peaceful and longer dialogue between the parties involved and I don’t totally understand the implications of Dale Farm residents staying or why it is not possible to find alternative space. But there are people living there and having done so for a number of years. Is it really necessary to use so much force and violence against people who just want to live in a different way than most Western people in the ‘modern’ world? Comparing these images to the riots I personally witnessed on my doorstep in Hackney this summer, it is not easy to understand why the Police are using taser guns against the people living in Dale Farm. Why is it okay to use them there in this situation and why weren’t they being used during the riots when people caused serious damage and caused major disruption and fear in many communities?
(Source: Guardian)
Northern Lights as seen from the International Space Sation.
A Superman-esque view of the planet (awesome timelapse of flying over Earth via VideoSift).
Beautiful time laps of the earth from space.
(Source: youtube.com)
Stadium for International Lunar Olympics: Brian Harms & Keith Bradley
Result of one of the most absurd (thus awesome) architectural competitions I have come across. Go to ArchDaily for more pictures and the story.
(Source: mightythylacine)
