THE SUN SET If you're a person who hates to stay indoors watching television on a bright sunny day, we've got the perfect set for you. Because with the solar-powered Sun Set, you can go outdoors and watch television on a bright sunny day. The secret is the screen. Instead of a conventional white screen, the Sun Set has a special black screen that cuts down the glare. Which means that the picture won't fade out unless it's supposed to. And since it plays off the power of the sun as well as rechargeable batteries, there's nothing to stop [...]

ICE MELT Rising temperatures are reducing ice cover on land, lakes, and sea and this is expected to continue. The retreat of the Arctic sea ice in winter is less dramatic than in summer, but there is a continuous reduction of the ocean surface covered by the ice. The Arctic Ocean is expected to become essentially ice free in summer before mid-century. Explore declining ice cover. Sea ice in the Arctic has decreased dramatically since the late 1970s, particularly in summer and autumn. Since the satellite record began in 1978, minimum Arctic sea ice extent [...]

RESEARCH AND INSPIRATIONS: this section should include ideas, quotes, snippets of readings, embedded videos, inspirational images, links related to the course or a current assignment/project Solar power is a wonderful way to harness the nuclear energy of our nearest star, but it’s more than that. It’s a new way of life that promises a brighter future – pun intended – helps eliminate smog, strip mining, and the burning of fossil fuels. Yet, it’s still more. In itself, solar power is a work of art as much as it is a science. It’s a celebration of green energy and human [...]

RESEARCH AND INSPIRATIONS: this section should include ideas, quotes, snippets of readings, embedded videos, inspirational images, links related to the course or a current assignment/project Art has a way of seeping into the consciousness of everyday people, which is crucial to any kind of change. While Iranian “tree huggers” were busy planting tree stumps in Kerman to draw attention to deforestation, a different kind of protest was unveiled at a school in Tehran. Concerned about Iran’s dubious distinction of having the most polluted cities in the world, several artists and an actor launched the Tehran Monoxide Project art [...]

RESEARCH AND INSPIRATIONS: this section should include ideas, quotes, snippets of readings, embedded videos, inspirational images, links related to the course or a current assignment/project You've been sharing a lot about yourself to us lately. One of the projects you discussed wanting to develop in your own practice is a solar-powered LED field. Between you and me, they need that here. I can't imagine life without knowing what a field of fireflies (lightning bugs) looks like ...and people who have always lived here will never know. CO2LED In this stunning public-art installation, five-hundred twenty-two solar-powered [...]

Write about the connections between the two texts. For example, in what ways is it a protest to "unearth" infrastructure? What is being unearthed by the electronics projects? To reveal something that is typically hidden is exposing that which lives in the dark, bringing it to light. I can imagine that this exposure could be viewed as protest – as Networks of New York unearths or exposes the symbols of the mysterious and magical internet. In the same way, the Disobedient Electronics could be viewed as protest as the mechanical objects are not behaving, performing as intended, [...]

RESEARCH AND INSPIRATIONS: this section should include ideas, quotes, snippets of readings, embedded videos, inspirational images, links related to the course or a current assignment/project LUCID STEAD Located out in the middle of the Joshua Tree desert in California, the use of colorful LED lights and an a awe-inspiring landscape perfectly combines together in this piece. It’s an installation that, although isn’t in a public space seen by many, it totally deserves a moment to shine in the spotlight. Lucid Stead is about tapping into the quiet and the pace of change of the desert.  When [...]

RESEARCH AND INSPIRATIONS: this section should include ideas, quotes, snippets of readings, embedded videos, inspirational images, links related to the course or a current assignment/project Solar canopy turns sunlight into electricity and art In the desert metropolis of Dubai, where the summer is one long heat wave, shade is precious as people seek refuge from the sun's scorching rays. Enter Italian architect and designer Carlo Ratti's latest creation -- a shiny metal canopy that can be used to create micro-climates in outdoor areas by controlling light and shade. The roof of the canopy is made up of round mirrors, [...]

PROPOSAL: THE CAROUSEL / SUN SET address in detail what you will do for your project and why Recalling the near past provides a certain level of comfort. NOSTALGIA also provides a soft landing form the fears of extinction. Once diagnosed as melancholy, which was a bona fide psychological malady in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, nostalgia serves as a mental safety net. What better lifeline to throw a drowning soul, for example, than the progressive illusions produced by vintage advertisements, which during the Fifties were conceived to ease the postwar generation into the atomic age? It [...]

RESEARCH AND INSPIRATIONS: this section should include ideas, quotes, snippets of readings, embedded videos, inspirational images, links related to the course or a current assignment/project Arctic Sea Ice Sea ice is an important component of the climate system. A sea ice cover on the ocean changes the surface albedo, insulates the ocean from heat loss, and provides a barrier to the exchange of momentum and gases such as water vapor and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere. Salt ejected by growing sea ice alters the density structure and modifies the circulation of the ocean. Regional climate changes affect the [...]

RESEARCH AND INSPIRATIONS: this section should include ideas, quotes, snippets of readings, embedded videos, inspirational images, links related to the course or a current assignment/project ICEBERG SERIES – This work is about the beauty to be found in apparently random natural forms. As in nature, my porcelain pots have an underling coded structure and logic. The algorithm used to generate these shapes has an inbuilt randomness, a ‘noise’ value actually and I am interested how similar this is to the erosion of icebergs. The natural structures have an underling logic that computer code can mimic so a different and [...]

RESEARCH AND INSPIRATIONS: this section should include ideas, quotes, snippets of readings, embedded videos, inspirational images, links related to the course or a current assignment/project LUMIERE FESTIVAL - January 18-21 Lumiere is the UK's largest light festival. The festival, produced by London-based creative company Artichoke, debuted in Durham in 2009. The festival was part inspired by the Fête des lumières in Lyon. Hosted in winter time, and free to attend, the festival typically comprises a number of light art-installations, as well as illuminating iconic buildings and locations. PROGRESS AND PROCESS: this section should include in-progress images of projects and [...]

RESEARCH AND INSPIRATIONS:  this section should include ideas, quotes, snippets of readings, embedded videos, inspirational images, links related to the course or a current assignment/project https://climate.nasa.gov https://tools.wmflabs.org/geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Arapaho_Glacier&params=40_01_24_N_105_38_52_W_region:US-CO_type:glacier https://www.reynoldsam.com/denver/ ARAPAHO GLACIER MELT, COLORADO (1898-2003) Arapaho Glacier has shrunk dramatically since it was photographed in 1898. Measurements collected since 1960 suggest the glacier has thinned by at least 40 meters since then; thinning between 1898 and 1960 is unknown but is probably considerably greater than 40 meters. Arapahoe is also considered a cirque glacier because of the mountain basin it sits in. Arapaho is the largest glacier in Colorado, but it [...]

PROPOSAL: GLOBAL WARMING address in detail what you will do for your project and why SUPER OBJECT: AT THE INTERSECTION OF CRAFT AND TECHNOLOGY. Interactive cultural artifact meets mass production. The industrial revolution brought GLORY to the machine-made, mass-produced and manufactured object. With that, came the loss of aura and authenticity that is often associated with sensoria. The societal need for mass production was in response to the desire to ‘bring things closer’ and overcome the uniqueness of reality, by replacing individuality with sameness. Benjamin would argue that the loss of original artifact causes the destruction of aura, shattering [...]

RESEARCH AND INSPIRATIONS: this section should include ideas, quotes, snippets of readings, embedded videos, inspirational images, links related to the course or a current assignment/project I've been working A LOT lately. More than I ever like to or want to. So much of my time is spent on my devices. Phone calls. Email. Texting. Tweeting. Blogging. Reading. Everything. Sooooo tired of the glowing box. It snatched my soul. I spend more hours awake than asleep. I spend more awake hours working than living life. Hours spent hunched over, looking down. I found this image from artist Bob Winkler's UNL dorm room [...]