Invisible Dust

Aeolian Ride, Capetown, 2005. Photo: Sean Wilson.

This participatory and quirky cycling event is looking for cyclists to join them in their next Aeolian ride in San Jose, California.

52 riders will be sporting wind-inflatable white suits handmade from ripstop nylon.

To find out more and see more photos click here.

Aeolian Ride, Tokyo, 2006. Photo: Jessica Findley.

Angela Palmer's 'Ghost Forest' in Oxford, on the lawn of Oxford University’s Museum of Natural History. Photo: the Good Agency

For more than two weeks, Angela Palmer’s installation Ghost Forest has found its third home after London’s Trafalgar Square and Copenhagen, where it coincided with the UN Climate Change Conference last year. It has now been hoisted onto the front lawn of Oxford University’s Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum, where it will remain for 12 months.

Palmer’s installation, which consists of 10 primary rainforest tree stumps shipped from Ghana, aims to highlight the alarming depletion of the world’s natural resources, and in particular the continued rate of deforestation. The choice of Ghana as a source for the tree stumps is no coincidence: situated some 3000 miles south from Trafalgar Square, it is the closest rainforest to Britain, yet one whose primary rainforest has been cut by 90% over the last 50 years. Ghana now exercises strict regulations in sustainable and responsible forestry and, crucially, is the first African country to enter the VPA (Voluntary Partnership Agreement) with the EU in an effort to outlaw illegal logging.

To find out more about the Ghost Forest Art Project, read here

Winner: Good for You, Green For London by Rachel Lillie

Any Londoner will have noticed that the number of cyclists is solidly increasing in the capital. It’s rapidly becoming one of the most efficient ways of transport in the clogged city, and, with the current heat wave, one of the most pleasurable as well. While creating a possible pain for drivers, cyclists have attracted support from the government, who has introduced the Cycle Scheme, and TLF, who are set to launch their Cycle Superhighway this July 17th with the first two lanes.

In the light of this mini-revolution, the London Transport Museum has asked illustrators to draw the links between cycling in London, environment issues, health and fun. Over 1000 artists submitted artworks, and fifty of these are now on display at the Museum until the 22 of August.

For more information please click here

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Silvers Alter. Gina Czarnecki, 2002/2003

Arts Catalyst and super/collider team up to bring together Stephen Wilson, Professor of Conceptual and Information Arts at San Francisco State University and author of ‘Art + Science Now’ (2010), with Liverpool multi-media artist Gina Czarnecki for Arts Catalyst’s monthly pop science evening.

Stephen Wilson will talk about Art and Research, exploring the idea that the arts can probe emergining technological and scientific developments by becoming an independent zone of research, which undertakes investigations ignored or discredited by commercial interests and academic science. This will also be an opportunity to hear more about his newly published book ‘Art + Science Now’, which provides an in-depth presentation of aritsts who are working outside both the traditional institutions of museums and galleries, as well as outside what is culturally accepted as art by probing philosophical and social questions connected with cutting-edge scientific and techological research.

Gina Czarnecki will present on ‘Wasted’, a body of inter-related artworks exploring the life-giving potential of ‘discarded’ body parts and their relationship to myths, history, cutting-edge stem cell research and notions of what constitutes informed consent.

This is the latest in a series of Science Fair events organised by super/collider.

Tuesday, July 13th, 8pm @ The Book Club, Shoreditch, London.

Click here for more information.
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Solar Impulse flying into the night. REUTERS/Dominic Favre/Pool

Yesterday morning, an aircraft completed the first night flight powered solely by solar energy. Named Solar Impulse and made of carbon-fibre, the small one-seater plane was flown by the Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg, who landed after 26 hours of flying.

According to the Swiss organisers, it was also the longest and highest flight in the history of solar aviation. The wings of the plane, which measure 63.4 metres, are covered in 12,000 solar cells which stored a sufficient amount of solar energy during the day to power the aircraft during the night. The success of the flight is crucial in showing the potential of renewable energies and clean technology, and could ultimately revolutionise the way we travel.

The next project will see a second prototype attempting to cross the Atlantic…

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