Tag Archive for 'Art'

Nottingham’s Aspire Towers Over Statue of Liberty

Published on Friday, June 27, 2008 in General and News. 1 Comment Tags: Art, Aspire, Building, Great Britain, Landmark, landscape, Nottingham, Sculpture, Shard, UK.

Named Aspire, Nottingham is now home to Britain’s tallest free-standing public work of art. Finally erected earlier this week, the giant ice-cream cone stands at an incredible 60m, making it even taller than the Statue of Liberty.

The 60m free-standing structure - Aspire in Nottingham

Designed by Ken Shuttleworth of MAKE, architect of the Millennium Bridge and 30 St Mary Axe in London, the red steel sculpture stands at Nottingham University at the Jubilee campus. I say red, it’s actually four very specific shades of red, namely Purple Red, Ruby Red, Carmine Red and Traffic Red.

Shuttleworth spoke of the naming:

We’re particularly pleased that students and staff have been responsible for actually naming the sculpture. These are the people who will experience the sculpture as part of their daily environment. We hope they will feel a real sense of ownership and pride in this striking new addition to the campus. We certainly think that their chosen name really captures the essence of what we are trying to achieve with the work.

My immediate thoughts were if Aspire had been deliberately named after the Aspire Tower sports centre in Dubai which happens to look eerily similar. However, it seems to be just a coincidence.

The height of of Aspire represents 60 years of the University’s opening and the name was selected by students and staff. It cost around £800,000 and the money was an anonymous gift donation. The height is made up from 52m of steel and 8m of concrete. Aspire has its own website which you can view here: http://aspire.nottingham.ac.uk/

In similar new, Shard at London Bridge is set to join Aspire as another symbolic skyline feature of Britain. Except this one’s going to be an actual building. With a height of 310m, the tower will be one of the tallest buildings in Europe.

I like it when a skyline has some definition to it. It’s not so much that places without a unique structure have no feeling to them, just that sometimes is does take a building or structure that really stands out to have an impact on you.

World’s Biggest Drawing

Published on Sunday, May 25, 2008 in General. 0 Comments Tags: Art, Flights, Gadgets, Worldwide.

I’m not too sure about this one; is this even possible? Erik Nordenankar created a self-portrait across the entire globe by sending a GPS tracking system through the skies, with a little help from DHL.

The World's Biggest Drawing by Erik Nordenankar

How was it done? By using a GPS tracking system with bespoke software that traced its own movements onto a map. This GPS was then sent around the world, in a briefcase, via DHL’s transport systems to create the image.

The briefcase became my pen and the world became my paper

Nordenankar modestly noted. I can imagine something like this takes an immense amount of planning and an unimaginable amount of co-operation with DHL, which is what makes me suspicious. Nonetheless, the video on the world’s biggest drawing website makes it that much more believable.

There’s even a list of all the directions for DHL to make the drawing possible. It’s all pretty amazing. More here: http://biggestdrawingintheworld.com/

Update: This has indeed now been confirmed as a hoax. Erik Nordenankar has been confirmed as a hoaxer after DHL revealed no such partnership took place and Nordenankar’s filming was allowed on the understanding that it would be for a college project on Stockholm warehouses. I still think it’s amazing to have the idea and to execute the hoax so incredibly. Well done Erik Nordenankar, I say.