Josh – Page 16 – Broken City Lab

February 13, 2009July 5, 2018

Light Lane

In anticipation of a time when we will feel comfortable in long-sleeved shirts, I’ve revisited an early BCL discovery: bicycle safety using light! While I’m not too sure how we could use lasers to create images, I have no doubts that we could use them for a handful of other Windsor-related projects. If this “Light Lane” concept becomes a reality, and people do not abuse it, it could prove to be a cost-effective way of keeping cyclists spatially segregated from motorists.

The Light Lane‘s creators, Alex Tee and Evan Gant, describe the project as such: “Our system projects a crisply defined virtual bike lane onto pavement, using a laser, providing the driver with a familiar boundary to avoid. With a wider margin of safety, bikers will regain their confidence to ride at night, making the bike a more viable commuting alternative.”

February 6, 2009July 5, 2018

Flooded McDonald’s

I’m not sure if I just flat-out like the thought of massive corporations drowning on their own power, or I like water flooding small spaces. Either way, this project by Superflex provides us with both: the vision of an empire being metaphorically drowned and a lifelike commercial space being literally filled with water.

“Flooded McDonald’s is a film work by Superflex in which a convincing life-size replica of the interior of a McDonald’s burger bar, without any customers or staff present, gradually floods with water. Furniture is lifted up by the water, trays of food and drinks start to float around, electrics short circuit and eventually the space becomes completely submerged.”

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January 30, 2009July 5, 2018

Moss Carpet – La Chanh Nguyen

In the summer of 2008, Broken City Lab’s early days, we discussed using moss for a small number of projects. While the current weather is not permissive of working outdoors with plants, I wouldn’t mind giving moss another chance come spring. La Chanh Nguyen is way ahead of us, creating moss carpets for use indoors! They never need to be washed and are resistant to mould.

“Created by Switzerland-based industrial designer La Chanh Nguyen, the small indoor greenspace features three types of live green mosses – ball moss, island moss and forest moss – that grow in individual “cells” of plastazote, a decay-free foam. This lovely little bathmat can even thrive under the dubious care of the green-thumb challenged: mosses flourish in damp, humid places, making bathrooms ideal homes for these comfy carpets.”

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January 23, 2009July 5, 2018

Catch of the Day

To bring attention to pollution, namely that of the ocean-type, Surfrider Foundation has created a delectable assortment of hand-harvested oceanic delights.

“…they collected actual trash from beaches around the U.S., packaged it like food, and left it on display at farmer’s markets. It’s site-specific, appropriate, impacting, meaningful, shocking, and an actual consumer insight into the very act they’re in the middle of. Someone about to buy fish from the same ocean as the trash in their hands can’t help but be at least a little more enlightened as to how pollution isn’t someone else’s problem.”

This led me to think: what do we actually harvest directly from the earth and market in Windsor besides salt? I don’t think I’ve lived “in” Windsor long enough to come up with an answer. Any ideas?

Note the sarcastic descriptions on the packages.

Continue reading “Catch of the Day”

January 16, 2009July 5, 2018

Atmospheric Modification

Like I had promised, here is another one of the Intermod Series projects titled: Low Altitude Atmospheric & Civic Modifications. I think it’s sort of beautifully sad in it’s futility and highlights a pretty important perspective that seems often ignored.

“This project used rockets with payloads to create micro-alterations of a city’s near atmospheric environment. There were 5 different payloads which when released into the air, propagated the designed effects determined by the use of therapeutics, noise and EMF screening, weather adjustment, and unusual optical events. The launch schedule was distributed over a 5-month period.”

January 2, 2009July 5, 2018

Project Citizens Band

I’ve found a group of individuals who have been creating some absolutely amazing work bordering on sound and technology called Intermod Series. I may post a few of their works as I feel many of them are extremely interesting. This particular project consists of a sound transmitting device and is called Project Citizens Band.

“This project was a month long broadcast over CB radio using prerecorded sounds designed to be mood altering. Four different audio tracks corresponded to common emotions experienced at the scheduled time of day. These were transmitted for a 5-minute duration, creating a sedative or stimulating affect.”

December 21, 2008July 5, 2018

Art Shanty!

“Art Shanty Projects is an artist driven temporary community exploring the ways in which the relatively unregulated public space of the frozen lake can be used as a new and challenging artistic environment to expand notions of what art can be.”

As you can see, they have experimented with ice lettering in a more permanent fashion. These are more like ice gravestones, aside from the text. I think ours could be more thoughtful, but it’s nice to see examples of something we’d like to accomplish.

It’s also an interesting idea to create an artistic community for a set period of time in a temporary natural setting.

Continue reading “Art Shanty!”

December 12, 2008July 5, 2018

Guelph Rainwater Research

This concept may not be overly fitting for Windsor’s current financial hardship in terms of unit costs, but rainwater harvesting units could prove to be very cost-effective in the long-run.

Research has and is being done at the University of Guelph to produce a successful rainwater harvesting system. The system was designed by two engineering graduate students in collaboration with a local supplier of rainwater harvesting technology.

According to University of Guelph, the harvesting process goes like this: “Rainwater that lands on the home’s fiberglass roof will be collected in roof gutters and downspouts and diverted to a filtration device before it is carried to a 6,500 litre underground cistern. The stored water will be pressurized and piped into the home to supply water to three toilets, the washing machine, and the dishwasher. The collected rainwater will also supply water to an underground irrigation system. This would account for over 50% of water consumption in a typical home.”

I was unable to find photos of the U of Guelph version of this project, but did find some diagrams which visually explain the process quite well.

[Article]

December 5, 2008July 5, 2018

Austin Green Art

The recent season change reminds me of how much our temperature drops during the winter and how much our city changes aesthetically. On that note, I was wondering how other “green art”-type groups deal with their surroundings.

I found a group call Austin Green Art from Austin, Texas which seems to focus on using existing materials (disposed or excessively produced) to make useful structures and raise awareness of environmental issues. While this group is about as different from Broken City Lab – they seem to market to children quite a bit and require constant donations for operation – as it is similiar, it’s nice to see participation from a wide range of age groups in their documentation.

I found this “Green Bench” to be a great example of a project that could encorporate ideas such as: static visual art display (in the plastic cover), shelter, sustaining plant life, and potential solar energy production. I’d like to see benches like this line a few of Windsor’s streets.

November 29, 2008July 5, 2018

SoundLAB 2008

I came across this last week while I was browsing for sound artists. It’s basically a collaborative sound art project directed by Agricola de Cologne, New Media curator and media artist from Cologne/Germany. There are currently 10 curators and their contributions featuring about 200 sound art works from about 150 artists.

“SoundLAB is focusing on thematic aspects, i.e “memory and identity” and related themes, and is developed for being presented in physical space in media exhibitions and festivals, as well as in virtual space as streaming applications in online environments…”

I find the site a bit overwhelming, but like the ‘soundworks‘ section which features samples of current sound artworks. Listening to them one at a time is good, but playing a few at once is the real fun. This seems like a good example of current sound art and might be inspiration for any sound work we might create.