highlike

Rufus Wainwright

Sword of Damocles

At a lavish banquet, King Dionysius is confronted by his servant Damocles – a brat who is jealous of the king’s splendor and power. Through supernatural forces, the two roles are switched. The smug, inexperienced commoner becomes the king. But his joy is short-lived.
He quickly realizes that being king isn’t all crowns and cheeseburgers. With great power comes great responsibility.
.
.
Release
The Sword of Damocles
Just release it
To the authorities

Raise kindness
Above all else
Avoid the books of
Hatred behind the shelves

I will caress your
Caress your curly hair
With affection
Many a good reason to cut off your head
Then and then

Release
The Sword of Damocles
Just release it
I’m begging
You on my knees

There is no reason
To hide it from the sun
I am a tyrant
Trust me, you are not the one and only
And trust me, you are not the one and only
And trust me, you are not the one and only
Lonely person

Release
The Sword of Damocles
Release
The Sword of Damocles
Just release it
Cut the thread
Why don’t you please

.

THORSTEN FLEISCH

Energie!
Thorsten Fleisch creates films that reveal the shapes and patterns of natural forces and phenomena. In this work he reveals what energy in one of its simplest forms looks like in motion. Energie! is a sequence of still images created on light-sensitive photographic paper. The artist exposed dozens of sheets of paper to enormous electrical discharges, each leaving its imprint as a trail of light. Animating these images reveals patterns in their flow of energy, akin to tracing the flow of electricity at each moment of a lightning strike. As the images are photographs created without cameras, they are records of single moments. Accordingly we see dozens of split-second documents animated to reveal the shape and power of energy.

TAMAS WALICZKY

Marionettes
FILE FESTIVAL 

“Marionettes” is a seven-minute computer animation about collapse. Marionettes are controlled by strings: if there is no string, they collapse. Nobody animates the body. If nobody animates the body, it will be animated by natural forces. Mass. Gravity. Collision. Randomization. In this animation, the animator does not animate in traditional terms. Thus, we might say it is an anti-animation.
The forces that control the movements of the marionettes are calculated by physical simulation algorithms. Therefore, these movements are strictly mathematical ones. They are dramatic, too. They visualize collapse in its physical and – amazingly enough from puppets animated by machines – psychological sense.

Mark Ramos & Ziyang Wu

Networked Ecosystem
In Networked Ecosystem, natural phenomena have been replaced by digital and artificial systems as forces that drive development: Electricity/battery = sustenance, WIFI signals = nutrition, Lidar data = fire/heat. Data Organisms populate this digital ecosystem as native life forms in the form of bots, AI’s, and avatars. Visitors to this networked landscape develop new kinds of digital senses to experience data as environmental changes, and interact with the simulated world and each other in an ever-changing online environment.

Kouichi Okamoto

Re Rain
“Re-rain” is a sound installation expressing non-visible elements such as gravity, magnetic force, and sound as physical elements. This installation is created with the sound of rain sampled in Japan early spring of 2016.The sound of raindrops hitting an umbrella are recorded, and is then played back from a speaker. The umbrella is set on top of a speaker, and the vibration of the speaker is transmitted through the umbrella to make a sound. For example, an umbrella cannot vibrate if the magnetic force of the speaker is small or if the rain hitting the umbrella is either too high or too low in pitch extent. For this reason, this is a device picking out a state in which the magnetic force of the speaker, weight of the umbrella, and pitch extent of sound are all in a balanced state. Natural phenomena such as rain travels through an object and is emitted as sound to the air..

ROB MULHOLLAND

روب مولهولاند
罗布穆赫兰
롭 멀홀랜드
ロブマルホランド
Роб Малхолланд

Rob studied at Edinburgh College of Art and graduated with a BA [Hon ] degree in 1986[…] His work explores the human relationship with the wider environment. His approach is not judgmental, more reflective and questioning about the ever-changing world around us. The human desire to leave a trace of ones-self for future generations has always intrigued him. It’s a driving force to create and leave a semblance of our-selves as individuals and as a society. The reflective figures ask us to look again and consider the symbiotic relationship we have with our natural and man-made environment.

ROB MULHOLLAND

روب مولهولاند
罗布穆赫兰
롭 멀홀랜드
ロブマルホランド
РОБ МАЛХОЛЛАНД
skytower

Skytower, while referring to constructivist ideology also aims to introduce the factors of natural chaos and de-construction. This balance between order and chaos, force and reaction is observed and reflected in Skytower.

RACHAEL CHAMPION

Forced Landscape
Rachael Champion’s site-specific sculptures and installations are engaged in a discourse surrounding the dependant yet unclear relationship between industry, technology and nature. Her works consist of large scale constructions and dramatic architectural interventions that question the shifting interactions humanity has with the natural world and considers their boundaries, separations and progressive implications. Through manipulating information from diverse influences that include brutalist architecture, agriculture, raw materials, municipal infrastructure, public space and ecology, Champion questions the layered and dynamic complexities of our shifting physical environment.

Keith Lemley

Keith Lemley is a sculpture artist whose work focuses on creating an informative relationship between object and space and challenges the physicality of material presence. Many of his works are made up of opposing forces of ephemeral light and structural woodblocks that unite in a metaphorical existence of natural systems. His background in science and engineering is reflected in the unique synthesizing of media that portray scenes from nature and memory and inspire a sense of exploration for the viewer.

Shayne Dark

Force of Nature
Whereas in the materials, there is a combination of natural and manufactured materials, most notably the various wood vs. refined metals. There is a duality at play, that between the natural and the urban. It seems that in this age of post-Industrial Revolution, where we are plagued with the problems that surround finding a balance between these two worlds, Dark has found some common ground in the organic aspects of each, uniting the two in his oeuvre.

ICD and ITKE Research Pavilion

bionic research pavilion

The Institute for Computational Design (ICD) and the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) of the University of Stuttgart have constructed another bionic research pavilion. The project is part of a successful series of research pavilions which showcase the potential of novel design, simulation and fabrication processes in architecture. The project was planned and constructed within one and a half years by students and researchers within a multi-disciplinary team of architects, engineers and biologists.
The focus of the project is a parallel bottom-up design strategy for the biomimetic investigation of natural fiber composite shells and the development of novel robotic fabrication methods for fiber reinforced polymer structures. The aim was the development of a winding technique for modular, double layered fiber composite structures, which reduces the required formwork to a minimum while maintaining a large degree of geometric freedom. Therefore, functional principles of natural lightweight structures were analyzed and abstracted in cooperation with the University of Tübingen and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Through the development of a custom robotic fabrication method, these principles were transferred into a modular prototype pavilion.