10 March 2024

Spring!

It's spring fever.  That is what the name of it is.  And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!  ~Mark Twain

Science has never drummed up quite as effective a tranquilizing agent as a sunny spring day.  ~W. Earl Hall
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23 July 2020

Astrolabe – Magnificent Computer of the Ancients

It is an ancient tool, created over two thousand years ago when people thought that the Earth was the center of the universe. They are often referred to as the first computer and however debatable that statement might be there is one thing for sure without a doubt.  Astrolabes are objects of immense mystery and beauty.

So what does an astrolabe do and how were they useful in the ancient world? Firstly they are problem solving instruments – they compute things such as the time of day according the position of the sun and the stars in the sky. Like a computer, you input information and then you receive output.  They were typically made of brass and had a 6 inch diameter, although as we will see much larger ones were made.
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21 January 2018

The Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno

One of the largest cemeteries in Europe, the Cimitero monumentale di Staglieno in Genoa, Italy covers more than a square kilometer.  It opened in 1851 and since then has gained a reputation for its monuments to those buried there. And what monuments they are.  It is a place for contemplation, for reflection on human frailty and the short-lived nature of our time on earth. Today we will let the pictures speak for themselves...

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20 December 2017

Adolfo Farsari – The Man Who Shot Japan

In the 1880s at a time when most Europeans were denied access to the Japanese interior an Italian photographer managed to capture many images of Old Japan. These were then beautifully and realistically hand painted and serve as a remarkable record of a world long since disappeared.


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19 April 2011

How to Get Ahead in Opera

Opera – no one can really argue that it is an understated art form and the sets upon which operas are staged have long been renowned for their extravagance.  Yet as backdrops go, this outdoes most for the sheer ambition of its scale. It is situated on the shores of Lake Constance near the Austrian town of Bregenz and is part of this year’s eponymous opera festival there.

The opera to be performed on this magnificent set is Andrea Chénier.  This is a verismo opera  by Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. It tells the story of the last four years in the life of the French poet, André Chénier (1762-1794), who was executed by Robespierre during the French Revolution.

If the set seems somehow familiar then you have probably seen the painting upon which the design is based.  The Death of Marat (detail left) is a 1793 painting by Jacques-Louis David, and as such is one of the most famous images of the French Revolution. It shows the assassination of radical journalist Jean-Paul Marat, killed in his bathtub on the 13th of July 1793 by Charlotte Corday, a revolutionary figure from an unimportant noble family. Corday believed that Marat was propagating a civil war through his writing.  She famously claimed I killed one man to save 100,000.

Marat’s death was swift and pitiless.  The process of setting a giant version of his head in to place has taken somewhat longer to commit than the murder. Yet Marat will soon be at home in an altogether different bathtub to the one in which he expired.

The designers had kept the set undisclosed.  However, once it arrived in Bregenz it was not long before the secret was out. It is rather difficult to hide a fifteen meter high head, with a diameter of twelve after all. The picture above is the head in a shipyard on the shores of the lake.  Later it would be taken by ship to the floating stage.

The construction began just over a month ago. To begin with nothing is recognizable. However, Rome was not built in a day and weighing in at over 60 tonnes the head could not be transported singly on to its home on the stage.

The torso of a giant human shape is already discernible, but the head is still missing. The performance begins on July 2nd this summer. The sheer cost of this set must have been enormous which is something of an irony.  When the Bregenz Opera Festival began over seventy years ago it was put on the shores of Lake Constance because the town, it seems, could not afford to build an opera house.

By the middle of March the head was taking shape.  This part of the set was transported to the stage but strong winds made its placement impossible for over a week.

Finally, the head is in place.  It is a triumph for all those involved in the production but particularly for set designer David Fielding. For a limited period of time Marat will have a new home on Lake Constance.  We hope to bring you pictures of the performances where he will be seen in all his glory. If you have the urge to visit the festival, please take a look at their website.


Sharing propelled by ebuzzing

Kuriositas would like to thank Flickr users Kecko, Hanes Frick and Grange Park Opera (See the Grange Park Opera website here) for their kind permission to share their wonderful pictures with you. Please click on the links to visit their photostreams.

Death of Marat - Image Credit Wikimedia

16 April 2011

Bierkeller Katastrophe

I am sure that you, like me, have moments when your first thought is I wish I had a camera with me.  However, life’s moments are so fleeting that more often than not the only thing you are left with is the memory and something approaching ironic hindsight.

Not so with this picture of a brother and sister enjoying their lunch in Germany.  Just at the right moment their companion presses the shutter button and for all time they have beer, broken glass and somewhat bemused (bemused?) expressions on their faces. Picture perfect. Shame about the waste of two good beers though.

Locked in a Vegas Hotel Room with a Phantom Flex


What would you do if you found yourself in a Las Vegas hotel room with no company other than a Phantom Flex high speed digital camera? Stay up all night and experiment?

That is exactly what Tom Guilmette did and the result is this astonishing piece of film.

This is shot at an amazing 2564 frames per second. If you would like to see any more of Guilmette’s work, please visit his archives.

2 April 2011

Family Cycle Train

Times are hard and people the world over are exploring new ways to save money. This family in Amsterdam seem to have taken the green message to heart and happily get around the city by pedal power. Who said you needed a beast of a machine to move people from one place to another?

20 March 2011

Mr and Mrs Vader

Just when you think that the universe is safe then one of the greatest arch villains of all time, Darth Vader – goes and gets himself hitched.  Now this is the second time he has been married, if you count that liaison with rather unfortunate consequences between a young Jedi known then as Anakin Skywalker and the beautiful Padmé Amidala.  Plus of course if twins run in the family then the universe may be in even greater peril than we had hitherto imagined.

Seriously – or not – this very cool photo was taken at DragonCon 2008. 

19 March 2011

Slow Day at the Office


Times are tough and many of us are having to take on work that we would not ordinarily consider. Yet this cool cat seems to be ready for business, recession or no.  It could have been the opportunity he has been looking throughout his nine lives. Mind you, if his tip jar is anything to go by, trade has been rather slow of late.  Perhaps it’s time this guy reconsiders his future working prospects?

18 March 2011

Extreme Super-Moon

Saturday 19 March is one of those evenings that sky gazers have been anticipating for a long time. A rare lunar phenomenon is about to happen. You may not even notice it yourself if you are simply a casual observer but tomorrow night the moon will appear larger and brighter than normal.

The moon has not been this close to the Earth for eighteen years. Some astrologists refer to this as a super-moon but there are even those who are calling tomorrow night’s moon an extreme super-moon because the moon will also be at the fullest part of its sequence. The real name for the term is rather different – astrological purists refer to it as a lunar perigree.

For many this is the opportunity to gaze in awe at the beauty of our lonely satellite. However, there are the doomsayers too. They maintain that when the moon is at its closest to us then the increased gravitational pull of the moon does strange things to the Earth. Many are already pointing a finger towards Japan and blaming the perigree for the earthquake and tsunami disaster there.

A number of astrologers have also made dire predictions for tomorrow evening, from further earthquakes to huge storms and tides. Other historical weather anomalies and associated disasters (in human terms) have also been blamed on super-moons. Astrologers and astronomers are, however, quite different beats. The bulk of the scientific world is sceptical and says that there is one important thing missing before people assume the moon is causing these disasters: cold hard evidence.

As the moon’s orbit around the earth is elliptical the difference between its furthest and nearest points would, at first glance, be cause for concern (and if the distance between the two happened overnight it would most certainly be a time to, well, panic). 254,000 miles is the furthest the moon is ever away from the earth. At is closest it is still 220,000 miles away but that means that it is closer to us by 34,000 miles. That is some distance – and perhaps you can see why astrologers take the perigree as a time for disaster to occur.

While it is true that tidal forces increase by about fifteen percent during a lunar perigree that does not mean that tides will be higher by the same percentage. The average perigree tidal rise is around an inch – nothing much to throw your arms up in horror there, then! In fact the dire effects that the moon is said to have on the weather during its perigree are largely a creation of the blogosphere. Here at Kuriositas we are happy to stand up and be counted when it comes to debunking what amounts to lunatic lunar conspiracy theory!

Just in case you do believe the ‘theories’ and think that the recent Japanese earthquake was caused by the moon, consider this. When the earthquake happened the moon was at its furthest point away from us – at what is called the lunar apogee. Now, I’m not a rocket scientist (more of a space cadet in truth), but...

However, and there is some irony here – there is some evidence to suggest that in fact the Earth is responsible for earthquakes on the moon. There was research done by NASA in the 1970s and they came to that very conclusion. So, Commander John Koenig would have to choose the site for Moonbase Alpha very carefully.
So, myth debunked – but it does give us a great excuse to reproduce these marvellous pictures!

27 February 2011

Mondo Curio - The Photography of Paul Cook

Sometimes you find a website that is really worth talking about – and suggesting to others. So it is with Mondo Curio which is run by photographer Paul Cook. Cook takes photographs and then manipulates them to challenge our perceptions of what is original, investigating balance and equilibrium as a holistic aesthetic.

You will find a variety of images at his site, from animals and trees to bones and architecture which he has changed to present them to us in new and unexpected ways. His experiments with mirror imaging using photomontage really are quite remarkable. He had a sold out exhibition last year, (un)Natural History which was even licensed for use in a television pilot.

From May he will be showing a new exhibition, Parallel Universe at the Contact Photography Festival in Toronto, Canada, which we hope to feature here at Kuriositas. In the interim, here are two of his new pieces with some older ones below for you. Click on any to get to Mondo Curio and more of Paul Cook’s amazing photography.