Category: visual

On either side of the border, there are three stations, each with a microphone, speaker and tuning wheels that control a searchlight, that can be seen from a 50-kilometre radius. When your light beam intersects with someone else’s in the sky, a two-way audio connection opens up and you can talk to the other person through the microphone. – CBC

Uh, wow, Dresden: “The exact details of the operation, and what was taken, are not yet clear, but local news outlets report the thieves targeted the jewelry section of the historic Royal Palace after entering the building through a small window. Authorities said three diamond jewelry sets, consisting of as many as 100 pieces of diamonds, pearls, and rubies, were taken from the Grüne Gewölbe (or Green Vault) housed in the downtown palace.” – Slate

Freddy Tsimba uses all kinds of materials to respond in sculpture to his hometown of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. “In 2014 he took a house he had built from 999 machetes to one of Kinshasa’s busiest markets. He stood silently beside it and listened as people argued about what it meant. ‘The reaction was intense,’ he says. ‘People here are still traumatised by the Kulunas,’ a group of machete-wielding youths who rob and kill. Eventually, Mr Tsimba told the crowd he wanted to show that the machete was not just an instrument of death. It was invented for farmers to cut weeds and crops. It could become whatever you made of it—even a house.” – The Economist

Their canvases are houses, specifically the canvases of one working-class neighborhood called the Médina. “The neighborhood has welcomed street artists from all over the world to practice their craft in what the founder of the project calls the open sky museum. Dozens of wall paintings dot the neighborhood, bringing color to usually drab cement walls, and adding to the flourishing international art scene in Dakar.” – The New York Times

The deal is this: “It’s picturesque. You have a very old city flooded with water. Visually, it’s beautiful. For tourists, it’s another attraction. Tourists don’t realize what a disaster it can be for local people. If you find a beautiful city with water, you just enjoy it.” – Slate

As Russia’s population faces a steep decline, Moscow is growing – but there’s no room in the city center. One curator: “We got used to viewing the suburbs as strange, remote areas we don’t want to visit. … But when you get out here, thanks to the artist, you see something you wouldn’t expect.” – Seattle Times (AP)

She says it’s with the purest of pure artists: Preschoolers. “Barry is pushing the envelope on understanding how the brain creates and responds to words and pictures — a scholarly envelope that, in her mind, should be positively covered with illuminating doodles.” – The Washington Post

And it’s bigger than mountain folds, valley folds, and damp-paper shaping: “A few years ago, NASA engineers were able to create foldable telescopes and a flower-shaped shade to block out light from distant stars by using paper-folding techniques.” – The New York Times

Only 16 artists still practice the art of Cheriyal – but they’re working hard to expand (re-expand) their ranks. To grow the popularity, one artist says, “We began making tissue boxes, pencil stands, spectacle holders, and keychains.” – BBC

The metal detectorists found a hoard, didn’t report it, and sold most of it – and now they’re jailed for a very long time. “The hoard — much of which is still missing — could shed new light on a period when Saxons were battling the Vikings for control of England. The trove is thought to have been buried in the late 9th century by a member of a Viking army that was being pushed east across England by an alliance of Saxon forces.” – The Washington Post (AP)