Just spotted this wonderfully crafty stop motion piece from director Kevin Parry that follows the history of the world from the big bang through, well, I don’t want to ruin it. Lovely work. (via the awesomer)
Tag Archives: history
Suitcases from the Willard Asylum for the InsaneOctober 31
The Willard Asylum for the Insane was an institution in Willard, New York designed help people with chronic mental illness, and was in operation from 1910 through the 1960s before being closed by the state. In 1995 New York State Museum staff were given access to the secrets left behind decades before when the doors were shuttered. After an initial investigation they became aware of an entire attic full of suitcases in the pathology lab building, the personal belongings of patients admitted to the asylum who supposedly never left. In an effort to archive and document the history of the institution photographer Jon Crispin has been given the rare opportunity to photograph the contents of each suitcase and has launched an extremely successful Kickstarter project to help fund the endeavor.
While I fully recognize the fascinating and historical nature of these very personal items, and applaud the museum staff and Crispin for their preservation work, I can’t help but feel a tinge of sadness and unease for the circumstances under which these belongings became separated from their owners. To me they seem like the time capsules of lives arrested, their contents suggesting the hope of a continued life elsewhere: everyday objects for grooming, hobbies, fashion never to be used again. Eerie.
See more contents from the suitcases on Crispin’s blog.
Ice MaskOctober 22
The Australasian Antarctic Expedition team explored Antarctica from 1911 through 1914, studying geology, meteorology, and mapping unknown lands. Here, a photograph by Frank Hurley shows the team meteorologist C.T. Madigan with an incredibly thick ice mask after a day of weathering the elements. Here’s another more extreme example. The photo is from the National Library of Australia Commons which recently made several hundred historical images available online.
9/11 Memorial Sculpture by Heath SatowSeptember 11
Photo by Al Seib, LA Times
For the past five months sculptor Heath Satow has been welding together nearly 3,000 stainless steel figures to form a set of hands meant to hold a segment of I-beam from one of the World Trade Center Towers. The somewhat ambiguous figures (perhaps doves, or people, or angels) represent the people killed on September 11. His extraordinary memorial is being unveiled today in Rosemead, and you can read more over on the Los Angeles Times.
Lisbon Streets by Magdalena SzurekSeptember 2
A photo by Magdalenda Szurek. I’d PayPal a nickel to know what’s going on here. (via lustik)
Painting the Brooklyn Bridge in 1914September 1
A brilliant time capsule of life in New York in the early 20th century captured by photographer Eugene de Salignac who shot this group of dapper looking bridge painters dangling on the Brooklyn Bridge’s suspension cables. Found on the Flickr stream for the Museum of Photographic Arts. (via sabino)
The Mountain Men Action Figure Set: Marx, Mao, Lenin and Thoreau.May 22
Toss the G.I. Joes and the Transformers in the trash. Japanese company General Research has created this limited edition set of polyurethane Mountain Men as part of their February Mountain Research series. And by mountain men they’re of course referring to German philosopher Karl Marx, Chairman Mao “a Chinese revolutionary and Guerrilla warfare strategist,” Vladimir Lenin a “Russian revolutionary and political philosopher,” and Henry David Thoreau the American writer and poet. So what do two communists, a German philosopher, and an American poet have in common? I have no idea whatsoever. And other than Thoreau I think it’s questionable whether any of these men had ever climbed a mountain. But these toys are totally geek-tastic, well designed, and are still in stock here. (via flavorwire)
Update: Spoon and Tamago was able to dig up some additional details about the set.
Take a sip from the original coke bottleMay 10
Let’s turn back the clock a bit. It’s a hot day in 1886 and you’re sitting on the back porch of your great-great-great grandfather’s homestead as he talks about how some fellas up in New York are erecting a huge statue of a lady called the Statue of Liberty and then trails off into a long-winded diatribe about Grover Clevland’s economic policies. Suddenly the screen door slams and your great-great-great grandmother emerges from the kitchen holding two sweaty glass bottles of dark brown liquid fresh from the ice box labeled as John Pemberton’s Coca-Cola. Refreshing. Now you can re-live these nostalgic days of over a century ago with a 125th anniverary bottle of Coca-Cola available at Selfridges for a limited time. (via svpply)
