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History Photography Science

Artist Rachel Sussman Photographs the Oldest Living Things in the World before They Vanish

Since 2004, Brooklyn-based contemporary artist Rachel Sussman has researched, collaborated with biologists, and braved some of the world’s harshest climates from Antarctica to the Mojave Desert in order to photograph the oldest continuously living organisms on Earth. This includes plants like Pando, the “Trembling Giant,” a colony of aspens in Utah with a massive underground root system estimated to be around 80,000 years old. Or the dense Llareta plants in South America that grow 1.5 centimeters annually and live over 3,000 years. This is the realm of life where time is measured in millennia, and where despite such astonishing longevity, ecosystems are now threatened due to climate change and human encroachment.

Sussman’s photographs have now been gathered together for the first time in The Oldest Living Things in the World, a new book published by the University of Chicago Press. Sitting at the intersection of art, science, and travelogue, the book details her adventures in tracking down each subject and relays the valuable scientific work done by scientists to understand them. It includes 124 photographs, 30 essays, infographics and forewords by Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Carl Zimmer.

You can learn more about Sussman’s project in her 2010 TED Talk. (via Hyperallergic)

Update: Rachel Sussman was just named a 2014 Guggenheim Fellow.

Design Food

DIY House Plant Cupcakes

Apropos of I’m on a diet and am also a masochist, Brooklyn-based baker Alana Jones-Mann has a sweet DIY article on how to make cupcakes that look like common miniature cacti. It turns out all you need is mass quantities of tasty, tasty frosting (because why does anyone eat a cupcake anyway), green food coloring, and an unreasonable amount of baking talent. If you liked this, you might also like cakes that look like planets. (via Neatorama, Blazenfluff)

Design

The Incredible Underwater Art of Competitive Aquascaping

No, these aren’t exactly your childhood goldfish bowls. The world of competitive aquarium design, or aquascaping, is just as difficult, expensive, and cutthroat as any other sport but requires expertise in many different fields to guarantee success. Aquarium designers possess large amounts of expertise in biology, design, photography, and excel in the art of patience, as individual aquascapes can take months if not years to fully mature into a completed landscape.

The world’s largest nature aquarium and aquatic plants layout competition is the International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest (IAPLC) which annually ranks hundreds of competitors from around the world with Asian and Eastern European countries generally dominating the top slots. While it’s somewhat difficult to track down galleries of winners from every year, above are some amazing entries from the last few years. To see more, oh so much more, check out: IAPLC Grand Prize Works, IAPLC 2013 Top 6, IAPLC 2012 Top 200 (or here), and the first Eastern European Planted Aquarium Design Contest.

Art

Vintage Textiles Transformed Into Flora and Fauna by Self-Taught Artist Mr. Finch

The self-taught artist Mr. Finch is part hunter, part gatherer and fully genius. Obsessed with the rolling hills and mossy woods near his home in Yorkshire, Finch goes gathering for inspiration. “Flowers, insects and birds really fascinate me with their amazing life cycles and extraordinary nests and behaviour,” says the artist. He then goes hunting for vintage textiles—velvet curtains from an old hotel, a threadbare wedding dress or a vintage apron—and transforms them into all sorts of beasts and toadstools. The aged feel creates a sense of authenticity, or mystery; as if each piece has an incredible story to tell.

Mr. Finch works alone so all his work is limited. You can see all his creations and keep up with him on Facebook. (thnx, Kirsty!)

Art

Fashion in Leaves by Tang Chiew Ling

Fashion in Leaves is ongoing personal project by Malaysian illustrator and artist Tang Chiew Ling that explores various forms of leaves and flowers as if they were fashion sketches. Ling previously merged flora with illustration in another series of images called Object Art, and if you liked this, also checkout Drawing with Leaves. (via The Jackass Gardener)

Design Food

Graft Tableware: Biodegradable Utensils that Look Like Vegetables

For her diploma project at the École cantonale d’art de Lausanne in Switzerland, product designer Qiyun Deng created a beautiful set of utensils and and serving bowls made from bioplastic PLA, a material most often derived from vegetable fats, oils, or starches. Titled Graft, the delicately crafted design of each piece serves as a reminder of the biodegradable materials used to create them: a celery stem becomes a handle for a fork, a stalk of fennel becomes a knife, a slender carrot a spoon.

While Graft is just a concept at this point, I imagine these could sell extraordinarily well given the right price. But could you actually bring yourself to toss such a beautifully designed object in the compost bin? Learn more over on Deng’s website. (via THEmag)