h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Brilliant.

Why are the switches all in the 'up' position?

No particular reason. I'm thinking of resetting them to something in binary.

conveniently, '42' in binary has six digits: 101010

It's something a bit personal because of my avatar for barfesque.

But in some ways that's a pretty big part of it..in a weird way. All up suggests all potential as it's all 'off'...Good luck with deciding that And of course it gives the buyer the *choice* to make the piece themselves afresh whenever they want to by flicking the switches.

it's great

Oh, looky! You've got a switch!

I took the item over to the gallery this afternoon and left it for photographing, etc. The switches are in the position for binary '42' and I explained the Adams connection to the Exec. Dir. I also followed the suggestion of my neighbour and set the price at $612.34. This price was arrived at by counting the switch plates (6), counting the number of screws in the switch plates (12) and counting the number of screws in the fittings (34). I explained this to the Exec. Dir. and he laughed, remarking that it was as sensible a formula as any other method of pricing art.

I think you could write down the way you calculated the price and give that to the buyer along with the piece. It seems like its part of it to me.

I agree it should be given to the buyer, but only after the money has changed hands.

http://visualartsalberta.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/ENERGIZE_Poster_FLT2.jpg

Woo hoo! Woo hoo! Woo hoo!



You're getting famous...

It's perhaps a little embarrassing that I'm getting famous for something I thought was a little silly.


I figured carrying buckets of blood for U2 would be something more worthy of fame. Perhaps I'll add that to my resume.

When I started reading this I thought but by the time I finished I thought beyond words and I wish I was doing this.

'I have developed a process for “cloning” fragments of ice-core samples taken from million-year-old glaciers. We make thin, tapered plastic containers, each about two square feet, and fill them with ultrapurified water. Even at –40 degrees [Fahrenheit], this supercooled water remains liquid because it lacks a seed to trigger the process of crystallizing into ice. When you drop in a small fragment of ancient ice, it provides that seed: the water instantly organizes itself to mimic the prehistoric pattern.'

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=material-poet



And I'm going to post it to the News Story thread because it's so bloody

Update:

the show has opened. It's got some truly wonderful pieces in it. At the reception, the staff kept bringing people over to meet me because they were so interested in my lump of metal -- I mean, my work. I think I managed to keep a poker face and say suitably pretentious things.

And, in case you're interested, today I pretty much finished up a little outdoor piece I may have mentioned: http://public.fotki.com/anhaga/paintings/battistas-column/#media

The whole thing was done over the course of about three days. Last week I spent about two hours each on Wednesday and Friday, and today I stayed there for about four hours, most of it spent on the wolf and about fifteen minutes spent dangling from a ladder to do the capital. Battista, the owner of the shop, looked at the wolf and wanted to give me a 'man hug', which I think meant he was satisfied with it.

That is pretty cool, anhaga.

TRiG.

We'd been going back and forth for weeks about whether to include the wolf and the little baby Romulus and Remus and then on Friday we decided yes, let's include them on the base. The base was originally only a third as high as it ended up being. This morning we decided to extend it up making the wolf more visible.

It went a lot more quickly than I expected.

Now we have to think about what to do with the bottom part, if anything. I think just sticking a low potted plant down there would be enough.

So is the column 'trompe-l'œil'? and the base 3D? It's hard to tell from your photos.

No. No plant. That's decorative. Keep the purity.

the whole thing is a combination:

The building is an old cinder-block building with a fairly long wall facing the street. Along this face there are three sort of buttresses of cinder blocks which are about thirteen feet high and jut out from the building about eight inches and are about 20 inches wide. The corners of the thing are quite curved. So . . .

What I had to work with was sort of an engaged pillar already, but instead of it being a half-cylinder, it's rectangular in cross section but with very rounded corners -- sort of an engaged pillar with the front and sides shaved flat. So . . .

I had to try to make a base that wasn't square look square and a column that wasn't round look round and have one stacked on the other.

Does that make sense?


This streetview picture of the place before the awning was removed and it was painted may help: http://maps.google.ca/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&q=118+Ave+and+84+St+Edmonton,+AB&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=118+Ave+NW+%26+84+St+NW,+Edmonton,+Division+No.+11,+Alberta+T5B+0S5&gl=ca&ll=53.57039,-113.469822&spn=0.00567,0.021136&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=53.570392,-113.469654&panoid=j2d9C-skW4k7hbJV7a6FfQ&cbp=12,211.31,,2,2.58

But it's a little fuzzy.

It would have been easier in a lot of ways if it were just a flat wall.

Easier yes. But far less interesting. I'm still a bit confused, but as a story of its logistics of coming to be is rather good.

You should get some really good photos done.

I snapped a few others, but they're a little tedious to upload. I think I have one from an angle so you might be able to get an idea. In a bit I'll have a look and try `putting it u`p.

There. I've p`ut u`p everything I took today. Maybe fli`p`ping through them will make it more clear.

http://public.fotki.com/anhaga/paintings/battistas-column/