Somethings leave my mind after entering. But interesting bit of information this hasn’t left my mind since I heard it 2 years ago. Biologists have compared the total number of heartbeats in different animals lifespans and what they found was that in general we all have about 1.5 billion heartbeats.  What is also interesting is that the space between heartbeats is relative to the size of the animal. For example the whales lumbering thumping heart is indicative of its longer lifespan as compared to the rapid fire of a tiny humming bird who lives in the fast lane.

You can learn more about it here:  Size Matters :  The Hidden Mathematics of Life

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Blob Fish

Komondor Dog - before

Komondor Dog After

Angora rabbit - which probably belongs to Betty Chu

Dumbo Octopus

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Harry makes me think of that children’s story - the man who sold the many hats and he wore all of them stacked up ridiculously high (until a monkey came and stole them and scattered them in the tree branches). His animations open the heart.

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Mike Rea is amazing. He takes the fantasy to the next level. Here is a fecal face interview with him.

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Painted in Buenos Aires and in Baden (fantoche) | music by Andrea Martignoni | produced by Mercurio Film | assistant: Sibe

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Margot and I have been working on making a nest for an art proposal. She has been feeling the nest planting them across the country. I think she told me about the bower bird 8 years ago. I just saw a picture of it for the first time this year & fell in love with it not realizing until recently that it is the same bird.

“The male bower bird of New Guinea and Australia creates elaborate nests during breeding season to attract a mate. These nests serve only as areas for courtship display and are used and improved for several years. The bower bird chooses an open site among the trees, and sweeps it clear of leaves. The bird then builds the structure (bower) from carefully chosen twigs that he sticks firmly in the ground. The enclosures’ shapes differ by species. For example, the gardener bower bird builds circular hut like bowers, often around the trunk of a small tree. The bowers floor is decorated with brightly colored flowers and fruit.

Another species builds an open topped structure made from two rows of twigs three feet long and six inches wide. The whole area is decorated with such objects as bleached bones, feathers, shells, fruits, and petals. Some birds even paint their bowers with the juice of berries. The male bower bird entices a female to his completed structure and dances before her, displaying himself and the objects he has collected. After mating, the female builds herself a separate nest for her eggs.” from ladywildlife

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Its kind of amazing how most people don’t know about Joe Kittinger, the first man in space. August 16th 1960 he jumped at the near edges of gravity almost 20 miles from the ground.

“Then I found myself on my back watching the balloon recede above me. The sky was almost black. It was a beautiful thing to see. I had a sensation of lying still while the balloon raced away from me. I didn’t feel hot or cold, just the right temperature. There was very little spinning. At 18,000 ft., the regular chute opened automatically. Ten minutes from then I was down.”

You can watch his jump and hear him speak here.

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Florentijn Hofman thinks big and in color. He inflates large animals, imitates delivery men to get their parking spaces and paints the brick road yellow. Oh and he made a giant sleeping muskrat out of hay in a place where they seem to cause a hulabaloo.

Here he highlights a forgotten building - slated for demolition. Renewing interest before it is erased, it is now one of the most photographed buildings in Rottterdam.

Met vriendelijke groet,

Jessica

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I saw Ma Jun’s work in a book in the 768 in Beijing & fell in love. He takes porcelain casts of modern objects and sends them to a factory where they paint China in a traditional way. Genius.

lagallery-frankfurt.de/majun.html

This would go great in my broken Chinese Wedding cabinet. That is another beast of a story all together.

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I have been researching residencies all over the world for the past two days. The most interesting organization I came upon is the Center For Land Use Interpretation. Their goal is to explore the human interaction with the land through multiple lenses. I love the complexities that arise from exploring our relationship with something as as seemingly simple as the ground we stand upon.

“Dedicated to the increase and diffusion of information about how the nation’s lands are apportioned, utilized, and perceived.”

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