Hasta La Ideas

Le français Arthur Valverde a réalisé cette vidéo impressionnante appelée « The Anatomy of Gravity ». Dans cette création produite par Rollin Studio, la mannequin Valeria Leonova, habillée d’un drap blanc, effectue une chorégraphie magnifique. La vidéo est à découvrir en haute définition dans la suite de l’article.

Chen Chen and Kai Williams’ Brazilian debut unveils a collection of melded jewelry and furniture

Like the results of mineralization—when organic sources meet and meld with other substances that then embody the form of the original—artists Chen Chen and Kai Williams‘ cross-sectioned pieces interpret what happens when the mountains of forgotten excess and scrap material linger so long that they become fused. These pieces—along with a few others especially created for their Brazilian debut—just opened at São Paulo’s Coletivo Amor de Madre in an exhibition dubbed “Factory”.

Brought to the metropolis by a partnership between the design store and BoomSPDesign (which hosts the annual BoomSP Design Festival), Chen and Williams had only three days to produce all the works in the show, which includes two stools, several necklaces and a table with matching seats. The melded pieces also function as drink coasters for those who don’t feel queasy when looking at something that resembles a slice of ham hock or the inside of a cell.

The table’s shiny surface is thick with resin and embedded with plastic sheeting. A spot pattern also decorates the surface—the result of contact between resin and the paint that was sprayed onto the tabletop. However, with little time and no access to the typical material that the duo was used to back at their home base in New York, they had to get a bit inventive, which for them, isn’t difficult.

“We have an overarching theme of experimentation with materials. Everything we make starts from playing around with materials and allowing those experiments to speak to us,” they explain. “The idea of making our wrapped, resin-soaked fabric compositions wasn’t possible because we couldn’t get the same kinds of resin in São Paulo. We used a plastic tarp as a mold. The tarps were also something we noticed in Brazilian hardware stores. In the US, they don’t sell it like fabric, on rolls that you can buy by the meter.”

As a design studio, they’re relatively fresh to the scene. The pair, who met while at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, officially cemented their studio partnership last year, though they both brought experience to the union. Chen, for instance, worked as Moss Bureau‘s display director in 2010, and Williams had his own manufacturing company, working with designers and artists to produce their pieces.

“Factory” is on view through 12 May 2012.

Coletivo Amor de Madre

Rua Estados Unidos, 2186

Jardins, São Paulo

11 3061.9384

Google’s interactive human anatomy site gives a detailed peak inside the body

For the aspiring medical student or simply any curious mind, Google Lab’s new Body Browser offers an amazingly in-depth look at the different layers of the human body. The 3D model, currently only viewable as a female, lets the user interact with six different biological systems in multiple planes.

Beginning with the skin as its default viewpoint, a toggle bar guides you through the other levels right down to the central nervous system. Alternatively you can switch the toggle to adjust the opacity of each layer independently, letting you fine tune exactly what systems you want to see in conjunction with any of the other five.

The detail is truly impressive, loaded with anatomical information on details from the large muscles of the back all the way down to the fragile endings of the plantar nerve. All layers can be viewed with or without labels, you can zoom in on any area and the model rotates 180° for a full perspective of how everything is connected.

The downside to the practical body browser is that it’s currently only viewable using Google Chrome, and while it’s no replacement for the hands-on study of anatomy, the application has tremendous utility in lieu of traditional anatomical texts because of its interactive nature. Using it greatly simplifies the process of visualization and memorization necessary to understand how anatomical systems interact.