I’m tempted to apply for a spot on the ABC Advisory Council. I reckon I’d have something worthwhile to contribute. But am I close enough to their ideal of a fine upstanding citizen to fit with the others? “It’s your ABC,” but only for middle-class whites, plus a token Asian who’s a member of various committees so that’s OK.
Watching 29,000 aircraft
This isn’t a new video, but certainly one I like: a time lapse video of flight patterns over North America as they unfold over the course of a day.
You can clearly see the wave of activity following the time zones east to west as the morning commuter flights do their thing. International flights follow a different drummer.
One of the reasons I like this video is that it reminds us we’re all part of something much, much bigger. In this case it’s the human-made world of aviation, but like the Powers of Ten video, it helps generate a sense of perspective.
Thanks to The Long Now Foundation for the reminder — and follow their blog for many more similar reminders, such as a 35-year time lapse of the Tokyo skyline and some slow art.
I’ll write more about The Long Now Foundation another time.
Feeling flat? Blame Sydney!
Are you feeling as uninspired today as I am? Been like that all week? Perhaps it’s what I’m going to start calling “The Sydney Effect”.
OK, if you’re not in Sydney this won’t work for you. But today it’s not just me feeling flat. So is my office manager. So is The Other Andrew. So are most people I’ve spoken with on the phone — and email volume is definitely down today.
A few years back I was talking with a psychiatrist who’d practised all over the world, including Sydney, London, the US, Europe. He’d noticed that in every city, each day his clients would be in different moods depending on what’d been happening in their life. Every city, that is, except Sydney.
In Sydney, if his first client was depressed, then everyone else that day would be depressed too. If that first client was angry, so was everyone else.
He didn’t know why, he just knew that it happened.
Maybe I should run a test each morning. Phone someone at random, see what mood they’re in, and plan the rest of the day accordingly.
Contemporary art for sardines
“Just how many people can you pack into one tiny art gallery,” I wondered as I squeezed through At The Vanishing Point‘s winding displays to find a drink.
The launch of the inaugural Marrickville Contemporary Art Prize was an upbeat but slightly chaotic affair last night, with 61 works packed into a narrow gallery space and probably every contemporary artist in the village jammed into a narrow corridor trying to reach the dodgy chardonnay and too-few spring rolls being served in the back yard.
Red Sofa shortlisted
’Pong’s photograph Red Sofa (right) has been shortlisted for the Marrickville Contemporary Art Prize 2007.
The Award Presentation and Launch is tonight at At The Vanishing Point gallery, 565 King Street, Newtown from 6pm to 9pm.
However the exhibition is spread across two galleries, with the rest the works on display at the Don’t Look Experimental Art Gallery, 419 New Canterbury Road, Dulwich Hill. That half is launched tomorrow night from 6pm.
Sadly ’Pong won’t be able to make the award presentation tonight, though I’ll try to be there. However we’ll both be at tomorrow’s launch in Dulwich Hill. Join us?
The exhibition runs at both galleries until 23 September.