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Art

New Fantastical Miniature Flying Machines Forged From Cardboard by Daniel Agdag

Melbourne-based Daniel Agdag (previously) produces fantastical models of machines as a way to explore his own daydreams of what may be lurking inside our most basic structures, the machinery kept hidden under steel or concrete. Agdag wants to draw attention to the complexity of the everyday, highlighting the gears and systems deep inside the objects that make our lives more convenient. Agdag builds these imagined contraptions from cardboard rather than metal, meticulously constructing the objects to appear much more durable than their actual materials suggest.

“Aesthetically, the driving force behind the creation of works I make stem from a need to see and imagine objects, machines and environments in a way I’d like to see them, to imagine how I think they work and expose their inner workings,” said Agdag. “All too often, the most amazing feats of human engineering are kept hidden and disguised under shiny facades or reinforced concrete.”

The flying vessels are also inspired by Agdag’s mother who migrated alone from Europe to Australia. The sculptures romanticize the feeling of being alone in the sky, unsure of what adventures may come. “I think of the airships as a vehicle to escape with, an attempt to cross a divide, to be the captain of my own journey,” said Agdag.

Agdag’s last exhibition was the group exhibition “Model Urban” at Manningham Art Gallery in Australia last fall, and he showed work with MARS Gallery at Sydney Contemporary Art Fair last September. You can see more of his detailed cardboard sculptures and in-progress works on his Instagram.

 

Art

Imaginative Industrial Flying Machines Made From Cardboard by Daniel Agdag

If you want to create detailed and imaginative flying machine sculptures that look like they’re about to take flight, cardboard is hardly the material to use. Unless, of course, you’re artist Daniel Agdag (previously), who has been toiling away creating a series of new works each more detailed and fascinating than the next. “The Principles of Aerodynamics” is Agdag’s first solo exhibition where his series of cardboard contraptions that portray his “ongoing pursuit of escape through the metaphor of flight” will be on display through Aug 31, 2014.

As he’s done in the past, Agdag forfeits all blueprints, drawings and plans choosing, instead, to work only from mind and scalpel. His industrial beasts–get close and you can almost smell the oil and smoke; hear the clanking and buzzing–come together only from sliced cardboard hinged with glue.

 

Art Photography

The Struggle to Right Oneself: Kerry Skarbakka Photographs Himself in Suspended Peril

In his photographic self-portrait series Struggle to Right Oneself, artist Kerry Skarbakka captures himself in moments of suspended peril: falling from trees, tumbling head over heels in painfully precarious falls, slipping nude in the shower, or teetering on the edge of a fateful leap from a railway bridge. In his artist statement Skarbakka references philosopher Martin Heidegger’s description of human existence as a process of perpetual falling, and the responsibility of each person to catch ourselves from our own uncertainty. He continues:

This photographic work is in response to this delicate state. It comprises a culmination of thought and emotion, a tying together of the threads of everything I perceive life has come to represent. It is my understanding and my perspective, which relies on the shifting human conditions of the world that we inhabit. It’s exploration resides in the sublime metaphorical space from where balance has been disrupted to the definitive point of no return. It asks the question of what it means to resist the struggle, to simply let go. Or what are the consequences of holding on?

Skarbakka says that he utilizes special climbing gear and other rigging to achieve each shot, but the final images are truly convincing if somewhat ambiguous. This too is on purpose, as the images are meant to leave the viewer questioning. Do they suggest we can fly? Do we fall? What happens when we land? See many more shots from the series over on his website. All images courtesy the artist.

 

Art Illustration Photography

Flying Houses by Laurent Chehere

French photographer Laurent Chehere is known for his commercial work for clients such as Audi and Nike, but after a change of interest he left advertising and traveled the world with stops throughout China, Argentina, Columbia, and Boliva. From his numerous photographs along the way was born his flying houses series, a collection of fantastical buildings, homes, tents and trailers removed from their backgrounds and suspended in the sky as if permanently airborne. The collection of work appeared at Galerie Paris-Beijing last year with an appearance at Art Miami in December. You can see much more on his website. (via it’s nice that)

Art

Face Your Fear of Heights by Walking on Air in this Massive Translucent Aerial Structure by Tomás Saraceno

If staring out of windows from the top of a tall building makes your palms sweat, this might not be for you. On Space Time Foam at HangarBicocca in Milan, is the latest interactive artwork from Argentinean architect and artist Tomás Saraceno who has become famous for his creation of suspended environments that can be inhabited by people. This latest aerial installation was constructed from three levels of clear film that can be explored while suspended several stories off the ground at HangarBiocca, a former industrial plant that was converted to an arts space in 2004. Via HangarBicocca:

Saraceno, who refers to himself as “living and working between and beyond planet Earth”, bases his work on themes such as the elimination of geographical, physical, behavioural and social barriers; the research into sustainable ways of life for humanity and the planet; the encounter and exchange among different disciplines and bodies of knowledge; the model of networking and sharing applied to all phases of the invention and execution of works and projects. […] At HangarBicocca Saraceno creates On Space Time Foam, a floating structure composed of three levels of clear film that can be accessed by the public, inspired by the cubical configuration of the exhibition space. The work, whose development took months of planning and experimentation with a multidisciplinary team of architects and engineers, will then continue as an important project during a residency of the artist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT in Cambridge (MA).

For those who suffer vertigo or do not meet the proper age and medical requirements (!), the piece is always viewable from the ground floor, but the more adventurous tickets can be purchased in the event space hrough March 2, 2013. If you can’t make it to Italy anytime soon you can catch more video of it via Artribune. (via beautiful decay, designboom)

 

Amazing

London Heathrow Approach Time-lapse Turns Jumbo Jets into Floating Toys

This short clip from the Cargospotter aviation video channel shows a few dozen planes as they queue up for approach at London’s Heathrow airport. At 17x normal speed the wind currents seem to bounce the planes like small toys suspended from invisible strings and the perpetually moving clouds create the illusion of a constantly panning camera. In an internet flooded with time-lapse videos this is definitely a gem. (via metafilter)