Astronomers Paradise

Astronomer's Paradise is the first episode of Atacama Starry Nights timelapse movie series. Cerro Paranal is truly an astronomers paradise with its stunningly dark, steady and transparent sky. Located in the barren Atacama Desert of Chile it is home to some of the world's leading telescopes. Operated by the European Southern Observatory (eso.org) the Very Large Telescope (VLT) is located on Paranal, composed of four 8 m telescopes which can combine their light to make a giant telescope by interferometry. Four smaller auxiliary telescopes, each 1.8 m in aperture, are important elements of the VLT interferometer.

This footage is made during an imaging expedition to Paranal assigned by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). All video rights reserved by Christoph Malin (christophmalin.com) and Babak Tafreshi of The World at Night (TWAN) program (twanight.org). The inside observatory video is contributed by Stephane Guisard (astrosurf.com/sguisard).

The music theme is by Carbon Based Lifeforms (carbonbasedlifeforms.net). Song Arecibo extract from the album [Twentythree], write & produced by Johannes Hedberg and Daniel Segerstad, published by Ultimae (ultimae.com). Music remix by Tiny Types.

The Invention and Exploration of Objects

I love these sketches by American artist Robert Cummings:



"The invention and exploration of objects and their relationship to function and to ideas has always been Robert Cumming's obsession, his way of making sense of an ever more complex and frightening world. Certain recurrent themes can be identified as they are permutated in an impressive variety of techniques and media at Cumming's command, including sculpture, photography, writing, drawing and, most recently, painting."



Via but does it float

Hijacking the Eye

From the man behind The Art of Penguin Science Fiction, James Pardey, comes another excellent website, The Art of Fontana Modern Masters (it's been around a while... I've only just come across it).



Fontana Modern Masters documents the evolution of the Modern Masters series through the designs produced by art director John Constable, who used the geometric abstraction of Oliver Bevan; Mike Dempsey, who incorporated block designs by James Lowe; Patrick Mortimer, who oversaw the art direction of the series from 1980-83; and the work of artist Jamie Shovlin – who reimagined the Modern Masters series as a set of watercolours.

Soundcube

Great sketches (via Triangulation Blog) from one of the first sound projects called Soundcube, made in 1969 by Bernhard Leitner:



"Bernhard Leitner is considered a pioneer of the art form generally referred to as “sound installation.” He introduced sound to the installation space, allowing the installation space to emerge through the sound. Leitner, who actually studied architecture, has been a visionary ever since the very start of his artistic career. His sculptures—which he refers to as “sound-space objects”—and installations are the result of long, complex processes of development. In precise sketches and workbooks, he first approaches the sculptural, architectural qualities of sound in theory"



Find out more about Leitner's installations:
Bernhard Leitner: Sound Spaces | ArchDaily

Beyond the Black Rainbow

Errr... interesting looking film...



As one comment put it, "2001: A Clockwork Tron Enter the Sunshine Void"
Official synopsis as follows:

“Set in the strange and oppressive emotional landscape of the year 1983, Beyond The Black Rainbow is a Reagan-era fever dream inspired by hazy childhood memories of midnight movies and Saturday morning cartoons."

Sketch Collective Network

My Tumblr has been accepted to the Sketch Collective - a Tumblr-network designed to assemble a variety of high quality blogs with similar styles and interests - a good place to start when looking for inspiration.

Balance Out of Life

The well known film Koyaanisqatsi at 1552% speed, lasting only 5 minutes.
Audio: “The Holy Egoism of Genius,” by The Art of Noise.

Via prosthetic knowledge

Cosmic Abstracts

Abstract photos of cosmetics by photographer Nicholas Alan Cope:



Like glimpses of deep space...



Via Ape on the Moon

Legendary Psychasthenia

From Twitter:
Legendary psychasthenia – the fear of being eaten up by space.