Photography

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Design History Photography

‘Temples of Books’ Is an Ode to the Grandeur and Democratic Ideals of Public Libraries

In the U.S., libraries have increasingly been attacked by the far right as part of a movement to impose unjust book bans and protest diversity and inclusion efforts. Although the public institutions are sites of contention at the moment, they’ve historically functioned as beacons of knowledge and democracy, spaces that are free and open to all.

A recent book published by Gestalten returns to the fundamental beauty and communal nature of libraries, traveling the globe to visit some of the most alluring places. Written by Marianne Julia Strauss, Temples of Books: Magnificent Libraries Around the World celebrates the stunning architecture and quietude associated with wandering the stacks. From the exuberant Manueline style of Real Gabinete Portugues de Leitura in Rio de Janeiro to the modern concrete-and-wood structure of Phillips Exeter Academy Library, the volume encompasses a vast range of aesthetics and eras across more than 40 physical and virtual locations on six continents.

Positioning these spaces as intellectual havens, Temples of Books highlights their wide array of offerings, including botanic gardens, archival repositories, and of course, room to read. “As an institution that can curate knowledge, scrutinize the status quo, and encourage education, the library is more important today than ever,” a statement says. “This responsibility is only growing as the freedom to publish on all manner of channels increases.”

Temples of Books is available now on Bookshop. (via Feature Shoot)

 

Photography Science

Composite Images From NASA’s Most Powerful Telescopes Reveal Mind-Boggling Details of the Cosmos

Combining data from some of NASA’s most powerful instruments, four new composites highlight the enormity of the cosmos in unprecedented detail. Imagery from the Chandra Observatory and the James Webb and Hubble telescopes—plus infrared information from the Spitzer telescope’s final missions—mesh together to generate mesmerizing views of iconic nebulae and galaxies.

Messier 74, a spiral galaxy more than 30 million light-years from Earth, is sometimes called the Phantom Galaxy due to its relative dimness (despite hosting around 100 billion stars!). Webb captured its swirling network in infrared, spotlighting gas and dust, while Chandra provided X-ray data of high-energy stars. Returning a little closer to home, for the Pillars of Creation in Messier 16, a.k.a. the Eagle Nebula—about 7,000 light-years away—Webb contributed the dusty forms that shroud fledgling stars and Chandra included the glowing blue and red dots.

Explore in-depth analysis of the images, plus the individual sources, on the Chandra Observatory’s website, which also include a star cluster called NGC 34 and the “barred spiral” galaxy NGC 1672. (via PetaPixel)

 

Art Colossal Craft Photography

‘At the Precipice’ Emphasizes the Role of Emotion, Tactility, and the Senses in Understanding the Climate Crisis

How does it feel to inhabit an irreversibly damaged planet? An exhibition opening at the Design Museum of Chicago this summer brings together works by ten artists and collectives that answer this question through data, color, tactility, and material.

Curated by Colossal, At the Precipice: Responses to the Climate Crisis considers physical and emotional reactions in the era of environmental disaster and emphasizes how art can offer an accessible entry point into such an overwhelming and dire emergency. Varying in medium and methodology, the works included explore several of the most urgent issues affecting the world today.

The Tempestry Project returns to the early Common Era to visualize how rapidly our climate has changed in the last few centuries alone, while Luftwerk and Zaria Forman consider the impacts of a warming world on glaciers and arctic regions. Morel Doucet, Nathalie Miebach, and Migwa Nthiga are concerned with the increasing intensity of weather events and subsequent forced migration, and Jean Shin and Chris Pappan look to shifts in rivers and access to water sources. Selva Aparicio questions loss, remains, and acts of remembrance, while Redemptive Plastics offers a localized and scalable solution to waste.

At the Precipice runs from July 14 to October 30.  We’ll be announcing talks, workshops, and other programming in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for details.

 

Help Us Knit a Century of Chicago Weather!

As part of the exhibition, the Design Museum of Chicago has generously kickstarted a Chicago Tempestry Collection, which will use twelve knitted works to highlight changes in the local weather patterns during the last 120 years. Anyone interested in creating a tempestry—a tapestry depicting daily temperatures—to be added to the collection and displayed at the museum can purchase a kit on the project’s site.

 

 

Photography Science

Flat-Lays of Halved Walnuts and Other Shells Study the Diversity of the Botanical Fruits

During a visit to the Zürich arboretum, Jonas Frei came across a nut species rarely found in Europe. The Juglans cinerea, or white walnut, is native to the U.S. and Canada and has a ribbed, oblong shell that once cracked, reveals a sweet, fleshy innard. Its presence in the Swiss enclave dates back to 1887, when the botanist Carl Joseph Schröter planted a tree that eventually produced the non-native fruits and sparked Frei’s enduring interest in the plant genus.

Based in Schaffhausen, Frei is a naturalist, illustrator, and landscape architect whose interest in botany has taken him to gardens, arboretums, and parks throughout Europe and North America. He recently spent time in Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum after being awarded the James R. Jewett Prize, which allowed him to expand his research on the walnut and explore how it’s migrated over centuries. Much of his work is focused on making science easily digestible and visually intriguing to a general audience. “Research itself really is my goal,” he tells Colossal. “I want to understand the subject and make the knowledge accessible through my writing and the aesthetical presentation of the diversity of species and cultivars.”

Shared through illustrations and flat-lay photos, Frei’s studies have recently culminated in a book devoted to walnuts and hickories, which brings together the cultural, historical, and botanical importance of these diverse plants. “I was driven not only by my scientific interest in Juglandaceae but also by my enthusiasm for the aesthetics of their habits, leaves, and fruits. The readers of my book should be able to make their own journey of discovery through the walnut family, on the tracks I have uncovered with my research,” he says.

The expanded edition of Frei’s book, which includes updates from his studies at Arnold Arboretum, is available along with posters, prints, and a similar volume focused on hazelnuts on his site. Follow his latest research on Instagram.

 

Photography

Looks Fishy: Andrey Savin Greets Marine Denizens in His Vibrant Underwater Portraits

Skirting the sandy sea floor or floating amidst anemone fronds, the subjects of Andrey Savin’s portraits can’t help but act a little fishy. The photographer meets most of the marine species in the waters around where he lives in the Philippines, fascinated by their enigmatic habits and unique interactions. “The most interesting moments for me are when I observe relationships between living creatures of the same species or interspecies relationships,” he tells Colossal. A finalist for the 2022 Close-Up Photographer of the Year contest, he highlights each individual’s distinctive traits, from snaggleteeth to speckled scales, and their remarkable aquatic home.

Savin is currently working on a project investigating how to take high-quality video with smartphones underwater, along with a continuing focus on capturing animal behavior. You can find more on his website, Instagram, and Behance.

 

 

 

Photography

Ruslan Khasanov Brings Cosmic Phenomena Down to Earth in His Mesmerizing Short Film ‘Space Iris’

For more than ten years, Ruslan Khasanov (previously) has been enthralled by the ecstatic effects of light, color, and movement, which he expresses in an ongoing series of photographs and videos. Composed of a mixture of liquids like water, oil, and paint, he captures hundreds of high-resolution images that are then edited into a short film titled “Space Iris,” which is accompanied by an original composition by Fabio Fonda. “The iris, with its intricate patterns and colors, shares a striking resemblance to the vibrant and colorful cosmic nebula,” Khasanov says. “Just as the eye is a window to the soul, the nebula serves as a window to the vast universe beyond.”

You might also enjoy his earlier projects “Eye” and “heterochromia iridum,” which you can find among many other pieces, on Behance and Vimeo.