Antikythera art

31. October 2008 09:01
Antikythera main fragment
I thought I'd do my bit for the arts today by flagging up some of the various creative projects inspired by the Antikythera mechanism.
 
First, there's poetry from a site called The Starlite Cafe. Scroll down for the poem... be warned, some of the rhymes are very dodgy, but it's quite sweet. 
 
Then there's art. My favourite so far is that of Morgaine von Slatt. She says she's inspired by "antique scientific instruments, gears and old machinery and alchemy". The Antikythera artwork shown here uses one of the diagrams from a 1974 paper by a science historian called Derek de Solla Price (this was the culmination of his life's work on the mechanism). I don't think it's free online anywhere but you can see the original diagram here. For some reason von Slatt's interpretation reminds me of the tracks from the bubble chambers used by early particle accelerators. Beautiful.
 
And there are plenty of bands. Here are links to three:
 
The Antikythera Mechanism
Surprisingly good. It's "shoe gaze, alternative, post punk", apparently. The song I listened to reminded me of driving in the rain.
 
Antikythera
Black t-shirts, headbanging, lots of screaming. No idea what they're saying so apologies if any of it is inappropriate!
 
Antikythera Device
Acoustic guitars. Pudding bowl haircuts. Great use of Godzilla footage. Absolutely no singing.
 
Finally, there is even a scent inspired by the Antikythera mechanism. It includes teakwood, oak, black vanilla and tobacco, and apparently it gives you the sense being in a busy workshop of polished gears and polished wood...

Tags:

E-mail | Kick it! | DZone it! | del.icio.us
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post RSSRSS comment feed