Scientists from Cornell present an experimental demonstration of temporal cloaking by applying concepts from the time-space duality between diffraction and dispersive broadening.
Click here for the research paper
Click here for an article about the invisibility cloak in PopSci
Ever heard the sound of a radio storm between Jupiter and its moon Io? Follow this link to listen for yourself.
In this 12 minute TED Talk by the Artist-technologist Honor Harger she describes how listening to the noises of stars and planets and pulsars have informed our knowledge of the universe. In her own work, she tracks the radio waves emitted by ancient celestial objects and turns them into sound, including “the oldest song you will ever hear,” the sound of cosmic rays left over from the Big Bang.
Les Formes Nues - Naked Shapes 25/06 - 09/10/11, Domaine de Boisbuchet
I don’t usually post about design here, but in this case I can’t resist. The exhibition Naked Shapes opens June 25 at Domaine de Boisbuchet, a country estate in the Southwest of France that is renowned as an international site of experimentation in design and architecture.
Below is the description that caught my attention, not to mention the simplicity and beauty of the pieces on view. Due to necessity and scarcity, these everyday objects are so efficiently formed, that they are symbolic and iconic. So simple, beautiful and elegant, perhaps even close to some kind of perfection.
“Naked Shapes focuses on the period during and after the Second World War, when there was a severe shortage of materials in Japan. One of the few metals that could be easily recycled was scrap aluminum from U.S. combat planes. The Japanese turned this into various household goods such as kettles, hot water bottles, chairs, baby rattles and more. Most of these objects were produced in small local factories and by individual artisans: industrial designers did not exist. These goods were produced out of necessity, which kept their design to a minimum.”
More on our ongoing photo series of the Studio Ju Ju View…
Most recent photo: June 23, 2011
First photo in series: September 21, 2010
The Non-Visible Museum is an extravaganza of imagination, a museum that reminds us that we live in two worlds: the physical world of sight and the non-visible world of thought. Composed entirely of ideas, the Non-Visible Museum redefines the concept of what is real. Although the artworks themselves are not visible, the descriptions open our eyes to a parallel world built of images and words. This world is not visible, but it is real, perhaps more real, in many ways, than the world of matter, and it is also for sale.
I like the idea of MONA but I do hope that they expand their idea of what is non-visible art to include sound, smell and touch. If they just stick to narrative, that will be boring! If they just keep it at ideas, how will this be anything new that builds on the history of conceptual art? Anyhow, the project is new so no need to pass judgment this early in its creation. They are currently raising funds and inviting interested people to join a mailing list.
In 2009, with the artist Sandhya Khumar, I created an artwork made from a sound recording of an iconic SF Bay two-tone foghorn – one that hasn’t played for over 25 years. Little has been done to preserve foghorn sounds yet they’ve had huge impact on the sound aesthetic of San Francisco and other cities for 100 years. The reason I bring this up is that the formation of MONA reminds me of this sound recording and how we were able to auction it off for nearly $300 at a live auction in 2009, part of the Radical Practices Live Auction Series in San Francisco.
This piece “Column of Earth and Air” by Mark Brest van Kempen is one of my favorites. It is eloquent and potent at the same time. Simple and sophisticated. An invisible sculpture that creates a public space free of laws and jurisdiction. An invisible monument to free speech. 
Our ongoing photo series of the Studio Ju Ju View turned six months old on the first day of spring…Enjoy!
Photos are updated daily through a flickr photo blog.
Most recent photo: June 3, 2011
First photo in series: September 21, 2010
Photo credit: yourban.no
Designers at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design have created a method to materialize and document the “immaterial terrain” of WiFi networks within a city. In this project they created a way to measure WiFi presence using a light stick. Then using that light stick they mapped WiFi across the campus landscape while documenting the light variations through long-exposure photography. They created what I would call a kind of “light map” to create a presence for what is usually an invisible – yet crucial – network and a significant – yet intangible – terrain in contemporary life.
The project’s interest in the spatial and material qualities of wireless networks is what makes it interesting to the projects of Studio Ju Ju where we have a similar interest in exploring the spatial and material qualities of sound and sound travel.
More about: Immaterials: Light painting WiFi
Sonic Shadows
Wow. If you are going to be in SF between now and November 6, 2011 check out “Sonic Shadows,” a sound installation by Bill Fontana at the SFMOMA – and then tell me about it!
