arsvitaest

"Unclose your mind. You are not a prisoner. You are a bird in flight, searching the skies for dreams."

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:59:12 -0600

“Unclose your mind. You are not a prisoner. You are a bird in flight, searching the skies for...

Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, III - Scherzo: Molto vivace - Poco...

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:15:00 -0600

Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, III - Scherzo: Molto vivace - Poco sostenuto
Antonín Dvořák

The Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnányi

(via crashinglybeautiful, symphonyno2ineminor and parachuteshark)

venimosensondepaz: Lesley Vance

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:53:50 -0600

venimosensondepaz:

Lesley Vance

venimosensondepaz: Lesley Vance

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:53:22 -0600

venimosensondepaz:

Lesley Vance

venimosensondepaz: Lesley Vance

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:52:52 -0600

venimosensondepaz:

Lesley Vance

Mas Yendo is an ex-student of Lebbeus Woods that has developed...

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:32:00 -0600

Mas Yendo is an ex-student of Lebbeus Woods that has developed several speculative projects. He was born in 1957 in Tokyo and educated at the Rhode Island School of Design (B.A.) and Pratt Institute (M.A., architecture). His experimental works have recently been compiled in his monograph Ironic Diversions, published by Springer/Wien through the Research Institute of Experimental Architecture. He lives and works in New York City.

His project, the B1-9004 Reef Machine [shown here], is a large artificial reef system that maximizes the ocean’s capacity to renew itself and sustain life. It encourages macrobiotic activity by pumping air through nearly 90 miles of pipes that wrap its perimeter. This activity results in the growth of crustaceans and barnacles, which, in turn, leads to habitation by larger organisms. Eventually B1-9004 will be completely lined with living organisms to form a complex eco-environment. [read more…]

(via dpr-barcelona)

In September 1578, while sailing near Greenland’s southernmost...

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:37:00 -0600

In September 1578, while sailing near Greenland’s southernmost point at Cape Farewell, captain James Newton of the Emmanuel recorded in his log the first sighting of an island “seeming to be fruiteful, full of woods, and a champion countrie.” The island came to be known as Buss, after the type of boat that discovered it – the Emmanuel being a short, two-masted herring buss. And despite its non-existence, Buss Island appeared on nautical maps of the area well into the 19th century, making it one of the more persistent of the many phantom islands that once dotted maps of the North Atlantic.

The existence of Buss Island was first made public in a book written by George Best in the same year of its discovery, called A True Discourse of the Late Voyages of Discouerie for Finding of a Passage to Cathaya by the North-Weast, under the Conduct of Martin Frobisher, Generall. It appeared on the Molyneux globe (1592) and a Plancius map (1594), and was again spotted in 1605 by James Hall, albeit in a different place from where he expected it. No matter: Buss Island continued to make regular map appearances, was deemed as real as Frisland (another fabrication since disproved – and mentioned earlier on this blog) or Greenland (which still exists). It was sighted again in 1668 by Zachariah Gillam, captain of the Nonsuch (sic).

The 1671 claim by Thomas Shepherd, captain of the Golden Lion, to have visited, explored and mapped the island extensively, led to a royal charter and an expedition aimed specifically at Buss. Shepherd’s description was tantalisingly precise (this map by John Seller, from 1673, details Shaftesbury Harbour and Arlington Harbour and a small, outlying Shepherd Island, among other illegible data). But of course, the elusive island would only reveal itself to sailors not looking for it, not to those who sought it out. This stubborn refusal to be found, coupled with an increase of transatlantic traffic, caused the presumed size of Buss Island to shrink and later its very existence to be questioned. Eventually, it was presumed the island had ’sunk’, a theory that reconciled the earlier, incontrovertible eyewitness reports with its obvious absence.

It took another Arctic expedition to also put the sinking theory to rest. In 1818, the Isabella, captained by John Ross (and still looking, as Frobisher had been, for the Northwest Passage) established that there were no shallows in the area proposed for Buss’s sinking. Ironically, Ross himself mistook a North Atlantic mirage for dry land, naming it “Crocker Hills”; the controversy of their either-or-not-existence would later dent his reputation (which was later redeemed by his discovery of the magnetic north pole, and the heroic, 4-year expedition during which he made it).

Only in 1856 would Buss Island disappear from the last nautical charts, the rich potential of its existence finally yielding to the disappointing reality of its un-discovery. The only mysteries remaining are what might have been mistaken for Buss Island: mirages? Parts of Greenland? Lies or delusions to make a dreary North Atlantic trip more interesting?

image and text via Strange Maps

(reblogged from ontheborderland)

Mäda Primavesi, 1912oil on canvasGustav Klimt(source) previously...

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:30:17 -0600

Mäda Primavesi, 1912
oil on canvas
Gustav Klimt
(source)

previously posted by sealmaiden

Maple TorchlightBill Schwab(via The Photography Room)

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:15:27 -0600

Maple Torchlight
Bill Schwab
(via The Photography Room)

"I am the most tired woman in the world. I am tired when I get up. Life requires an effort I cannot..."

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:01:56 -0600

“I am the most tired woman in the world. I am tired when I get up. Life requires an effort I...

t-s-k-b: gifanime: nevver: Train in Vain

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 07:44:45 -0600

t-s-k-b:

gifanime:

nevver:

Train in Vain

korut: prismcell: whisperingwillow: (via...

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:19:29 -0600

korut:

prismcell:

whisperingwillow:

(via scribble-scribbles)

korut: 529: Mur de ciel…Bernard Fauvel (via linternaute)

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:16:47 -0600

korut:

529:

Mur de ciel…
Bernard Fauvel
(via linternaute)

ontheborderland: People Are Strange - The Doors

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:03:30 -0600

ontheborderland:

People Are Strange - The Doors

Forgotten Authors: Lady Cynthia Asquith By Christopher...

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:47:07 -0600

Forgotten Authors: Lady Cynthia Asquith
By Christopher Fowler

Female authors seem to excel at cruel stories with emotional and possibly supernatural tints, using apparitions, fears and forebodings to indicate heightened states of unspoken emotional distress. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, a wife, possibly suffering from post-natal depression, descends into madness after being quarantined by her husband and doctor, with nothing to do except stare at the increasingly disturbing patterns in her bedroom wallpaper. The story was used by a generation of feminists to condemn marital inequalities, and is regarded as a classic. But there are many whose names have lapsed from familiarity.

Lady Cynthia Asquith was the daughter-in-law of the Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, and belonged to the literary aristocracy. As well as writing novels and ghost stories, she was an important anthologist and the editor of a series of popular collections. A friend to both D H Lawrence and L P Hartley, she also spent two decades working for J M Barrie. She used her powerful literary connections to persuade an astonishing array of big names into her anthologies, many of which have never been bettered.

Asquith was a storyteller in her own right, and produced a series of fantasies with the ring of truth, collected in a number of volumes, the best being ‘This Mortal Coil’ – nine tales of spectral vengeance and unease in high Victorian style. Her stories conjure up a world of things unnamed and half in shadow, where the past is never far from the present. Typically, in “The Playfellow”, a lonely child adopts a malevolent invisible companion who may be more real than anyone imagines.

As the 20th century progressed and private subjects could be dissected on daytime TV shows, there was suddenly no need for this kind of soft-spoken fiction, where the cruelties of men were visited on women in such a stealthy, unwholesome fashion that heroines were often driven mad. Mental instability and hysteria are seen as signs of weakness, and our female characters are stronger now. Paradoxically, Asquith is best remembered for her non-fiction on the female members of the royal family – strong women almost to a fault.

Image from the National Portrait Gallery

(via ghoulnextdoor and ontheborderland)