A poem for April

I imagine my love
breathing with the lungs of all things
and it reaches me
as poetry
of roses or dust

speaks softly to everything
and whispers its news to the universe
the way the wind and sun do
when they split nature’s breast
or pour the ink of day
on the earth’s book

Adonis from Beginnings of the Body, Ends of the Sea (translated by Khaled Mattawa)

I need some space…

If you consider your apartment in New York tiny, or in Tokyo a closet, be ready to reconsider and to be shocked. Imagine living in a space as big as your king-size bed, or less. Meet the cubicle apartments of Hong Kong.

Apparently a single square foot of real estate in Hong Kong costs on average $1,300. As a result, whole families are constrained in 40 square feet apartments. That’s less than 4 square meters in metric!

Kitchen appliances are cramped under bunk beds and all of their belongings are stacked one on top of the other. Tenants don’t have enough space to take two steps, and any talk of ventilation or hygiene is science fiction.

These photos are part of a campaign by the  Society for Community Organization (SoCO), a Chinese human rights group as an effort to raise awareness about the inhuman living conditions city dwellers are facing.

via Inhabitat

See also:

• Behind closed windows
• A little urban living
• Where children’s dreams dwell

Say it with an illustration

Say it with a quote or illustrate one? Malaysia-based illustrator Tang Yau Hoong pairs each of his illustrations with a famous quote. As simple as that, as beautiful as these posters…

See more after the jump

Lovers asleep

How do lovers sleep?

In a project called The Sleep of the Beloved, photographer Paul Schneggenburger captures a couple’s most intimate moment: their sleep. Using long-exposure photography he creates these ethereal, haunting, black & white images, where faces and limbs are combined in a single aura.

The beloved are photographed inside Paul’s studio, from midnight to six in the morning, in black sheets, under candle-light. The project is ongoing and you can take part by contacting the photographer.

via Huffington Post

See also:

• Tilda sleeping
  
• Making sense of your dreams
  
• Where children’s dreams dwell
  

Tilda sleeping

Happening now!

Visitors at the MoMA today will be surprised to see Tilda Swinton taking a nap inside a glass box.

It’s part of the Maybe installation that Tilda has been performing in Museums since 1995. Tilda just shows up and takes a nap – nobody knows when or where inside the museum, not even MoMA staff. So, if you’re around check it out now!

This is what MoMA had to say about it:

An integral part of The Maybe’s incarnation at MoMA in 2013 is that there is no published schedule for its appearance, no artist’s statement released, no museum statement beyond this brief context, no public profile or image issued. Those who find it chance upon it for themselves, live and in real—shared—time: now we see it, now we don’t.

via Gothamist

See also:

• A match made in androgynous heaven
  
• Can you name the typeface?
  
• Google puts virtual galleries back on the map
  

 

DNA animated

DNA explained in a visually appealing way.

Created by Territory Studio and creative director David Sheldon-Hicks & art director William Samuel for BBC Knowledge & Learning Explainer series.

See also:

• (notes on) biology
• The DNA of a city
• How big is our universe?

This is where post-its go to die

It is the fate of the post-it note to be dismissed very soon after it is written – whether, a reminder, a scribbled map, a love note, a cheat-sheet, a name, an address, or whatever else, its nature is by definition ephemeral. But there’s somebody collecting these used-up post-its.

Anthroposts gathers any found post-its and organizes them by color, complexity and the use of common words. With a haunting soundtrack of all their trivialities read out loud.

There is a chilling effect to this memorial to the ephemeral.

To read a poem

See also:

• There’s a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out
• The Man in the Black Coat
• I shall not live in vain

A girl’s hidden treasure

Or, more accurately three girls’ treasures. Three tortured souls, three great artists. What were their favorite objects, their magic talismans? Bett Norris illustrated the (imaginary) most precious possessions of Sylvia Plath:

Frida Kahlo:

and Edith Piaf:

Flowers and death being the common denominator…

You can find these treasures on Bett Norris’ Etsy shop

See also:

• I shall not live in vain
• James Joyce Pornography
• The Man in the Black Coat

The disappearing artist act

I am ambivalent about this. Is it ironic or moronic? Is it a critique of celebrity image, in this paparazzi infested world? Or is it a strained attempt to be the next meme? Here is the concept and you’ll be the judge:

Photographer Chris Buck had a side project. Once a photo shoot with an artist was completed, he would ask them to hide somewhere inside the frame and then he would take a photograph. The series is appropriately called “Presence“. Cleverly enough he asked witnesses to sign an affidavit affirming the presence of the artist. In the monograph of the series, this signed document is displayed across the photograph itself. An empty photograph and a legal document. What do you think?

Let’s do an experiment. Can you tell which artist hides in which photo? Do you feel their “presence”? (answers on hover).

Admittedly, Buck seems interested in the concept of the public image of the celebrity. In another of his series, named ISNT, he explores Alison Jackson-esque scenes with celebrity look-alikes. By the way, if you haven’t already, you should visit Jackson’s faux celebrity blog.

via Vulture

See also:

• The dark side of a fairy tale
• Behind closed windows
• Cinemagraphs: the art of the animated gif

The unexamined life is not worth living

Quotes by some of the most influential philosophers, illustrated by Max Temkin:

via so bad so good

The domin-ation of the Starry Night

Impressed. I can’t really find any other word to describe my impression when I first saw Flippy Cat’s amazing video of Starry Night by Vincent van DominoGogh. Van Gogh’s famous painting was recreated by 7067 dominoes in an attempt which took more than 11 hours to be completed.

Super cool or what…

See also:

• Guernica comes to life
• Ceci n’est pas une post
• Wireless dominoes
• The sky turned blood red

Inspiring words

A man’s wisdom in just one sentence. Clearly spoken and beautifully designed by Max Temkin, who in his project entitled Maxistentialism creates a set of Philosophy posters inspired by some of the most influential philosophers.

See more after the jump

Are you part of the 1 percent?

What are the odds that you are part of the 1 percent ? Martin Venezky answers the question with this amazing Op-Art piece for the New York Times Opinion Page on the 1-percenters of the US population.

See also:

• If the world were a village of 100 people
• Infographics: now and then
• Making (non) sense

Follow @itsasmallweb

The sky’s the limit

The sky is the limit. Well, it is the limit, if you can imagine that it contains more than 562 million stars, galaxies, asteroids, planets and objects, according to NASA that has released a mosaic of images covering the entire night sky, as captured by the infrared cameras of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission, which has been collecting data for the past two years.

You can see this panorama of the entire sky, compiled by 18,000 images here.

See also:

• Creating a mini universe
• Science songs
• How big is our universe?

Follow @itsasmallweb

The crazy world of visual hallucinations

An infographic on hallucinations? Well yes. Insanely cool.

See the full infographic after the jump

The arrow of time

What makes the past different from the future? Just entropy. An excellent short video from Minute Physics, (a YouTube channel explaining physics with super cool animated videos), explores the differences between the past and the future.

See also:

• How big is our universe?
• Creating a mini universe
• Antikythera mechanism explained by LEGO

A definition of love

Love is kind of like when you see a fog in the morning, when you wake up before the sun comes out. It’s just a little while, and then it burns away… Love is a fog that burns with the first daylight of reality.

A definition of love by Charles Bukowski.

via Brain Pickings

See also:

• Poetry after the beep
• In their own words
• The Man in the Black Coat
• Lolita butterflies

it’s a small web wishes you a merry Christmas

We have learned, watched and enjoyed so many things this year. It’s been a year of infographics, beautiful design, crazy ideas, full of music, creative short films, amazing photographic series from young influential artists.

Merry Chistmas!

Creating a mini universe

In 2010, scientists succeeded in recreating a miniature version of the Big Bang. Within a few years, some of the universe’s deepest secrets may be unlocked.

In Genesis,  a 3D short film, Andreas Wannerstedt is taking the change to create a miniature universe and become a mini God.

See also:

• Science songs
• How big is our universe?
• Science distilled in a phrase
• Antikythera mechanism explained by LEGO