Objectus Obscura : An Outerspace Chat w/ Janna Levin

Hey Fam,

Tomorrow's installment in the Terreform One Design + Science series features Janna Levin, an astronomer, physicist and novelist, who'll be taking us on an outerspace journey that delves into questions pondered for centuries. Is space finite or infinite? What's a black hole like?

Smart is an understatement. She's a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University. Her scientific research concerns the Early Universe, Chaos, and Black Holes. She's also the author of two novels, A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines (Knopf, 2006), which won the PEN/Bingham Fellowship for Writers, as well as the popular science book, How the Universe Got Its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space.

We caught up with Janna to ask her a few questions about her talk. Now, we're more than amped to be graced with her knowledge of the universe.

3W: Give us a clue about what you'll be talking about. What we've got you down for is Space, Time, and a Universe in Many Dimensions.

JL: I'm going to share some space-time diagrams, ways of mapping space and time, making a map of the universe in some sense. We'll go from there to talk about what if the universe is finite or infinite, and then even get into black holes, which will get into some fun stuff. I have this theory that there are colliding black holes, which bang into each other like a drum, and one day we will hear them....

3W: Sounds wild. There's a lot of popculture around black holes and their existence. What are black holes like?

JL: There are two ways to think of black holes. One way is to think about black holes as astrophysical objects, made of the dust of stars --and there are hardcore, real observations and documentation to prove their existence. Then there's the purely theoretical terrain, those black holes are often math on paper. These people do the "what's inside of a black hole?" questions. These aren't bad questions. 

3W: So you seem to do a lot, if not everything. You're a novelist too. Do you use a different part of your brain for that?

JL: (Laughs) Yes! It's so strange, it's really a zone. i have to marinate for hours or days before anything really clicks. When it works right it's almost musical. The writing has a musicality or pace to it. i draw storyboards, i almost figure out what i'm doing it's like a sculpture, actually it's more like a space. How the Universe Got its Spots--it's for non scientists. It's more like a little travelogue. There's a different sort of angle--the book is novelistic in tone in writing. I didn't write that book as a professor emeritus coming own from the mountains to educate the masses. It's not authoritative.

3W: Do you ever think about going to space? It seems like with all these privatized missions it's a really possibility if you have money.

JL: It's something I used to think about. Maybe when I'm like 80. 

As you know as part of our Design + Science series, with Terreform One, we're hosting a bunch of awesome speakers who are the brightest minds in a multitude of fields, from physics to fashion design, music to architecture. 

FOR TICKETS FOR JANNA'S LECTURE ON SPACE, TIME AND A UNIVERSE IN MANY DIMENSIONS RSVP HERE >>>

7/26 AMANDA PARKES // GESTURE, FORM, COMPUTATION in FASHION RSVP HERE >>>

8/2 BILL WASHABAUGH // GROUNDBREAKING INTERACTIVE PHYSICAL STRUCTURES

RSVP HERE>>>

Pictures of the Year Winners Announced

When the winners of the 69th Pictures of the Year International were announced recently, some people may have been surprised by the great differences between the two men who won Photographer of the Year in the newspaper and freelance/agency category. Craig Walker of The Denver Post won the former for his daily assignments as well for a photo essay about a veteran suffering from PTSD. Yuri Kozyrev, on the other hand, traveled extensively in 2011, moving from Moscow and Slovenia to Yemen, Bahrain, Egypt and Libya, covering the Arab Spring for TIME. You can see his winning photograph, "Shark," above. "I try to be on the road," he told The New York Times. "I try to follow the news."

Most of Walker's images were taken right in Denver, four within walking distance of The Denver Post. "Because of the amazing work done internationally this year by magazine and newspaper photographers, I feel humbled by the award," he said. "But it does say something about what you can do in your own backyard."

His PTSD photo essay, "Welcome Home: The Story of Scott Ostrom," was key to his win. In 2010 Walker was awarded with a Pulitzer Prize for "Ian Fisher: American Soldier," which follows a teenager as he joins the Army, deploys to Iraq and returns home.

You can read more about the winners on The New York Times excellent photo blog, The Lens, or check out some of 3rd Ward's photography classes to start working on your own Photographer of the Year award.

-- Perrin Drumm

Calling All Geeks to GOOD's Design Hackathon

Geeks unite! For one whole weekend in March, designers, developers and makers of all kinds are being summoned to participate in the Design Hackathon sponsored by GOOD and hosted by Parsons in NYC. The challenge is to combine technology and social innovation to "design the ideal tool that empowers the average New Yorker every hour of the day. From the moment we wake to the minute we fall asleep, how can people practice and maximize good citizenship in 24 hours?" 

Sound puzzling? GOOD gives you some ideas to get the wheels turning. They're looking for ideas that promote meaningful connections, efficient transportation, clever consumption, educational reform, cleaner environments and smart economies. Groups will check in Friday and "chill with GOOD" at City Tavern that night, work all day Saturday and then present their ideas to a panel of judges on the third day. Winners will be selected in three categories, Most innovative, Best use of social and Best use of location. 

Meanwhile: Looking to take an idea from paper to production? Check out 3rd Ward's latest class on learning Rhino 2, a cutting edge software program provides all the commands and power to accurately model and document your designs, ready to integrate into CAD drawings, renderings, laser cutting, 3D printing, prototyping, CNC milling and other manufacturing processes.

Design Hackathon takes place from Friday, March 2 - Sunday, March 4.

-- Perrin Drumm

See Murakami's "Ego" on Display (and Fashion Your Reaction at 3rd Ward)

Murakami's most recent exhibition, "Ego," comes on the heels of two major retrospectives at MoCA and Versailles, both extremely well attended shows, as we're sure this next one will be--even if fans have to travel all the way to Doha, Qatar to see it. There are many familiar faces in his bright and shiny anime wonderland (or nightmare, depending on who you ask); the flowerballs, mushrooms and bunny-suited characters are back, appearing both in 3D and in Murakami's signature superflat paintings. 

Those looking to see something new won't have to search hard as a 328-foot-long painting wraps around three walls of the exhibition space. It's apparently a response to the recent natural disasters that have hit Japan, which explains its size as well as its other monstrous qualities. But before you feast your eyes on three walls of an acid trip gone wrong, you have to make your way around Murakami's gigantic ass--no joke. A 20-foot-tall inflatable self-portrait "greets" visitors as they enter. According to Murakami, the exhibition is "a dialogue with one's own ego," a conversation that seems to have soured over the years. 

For those who think they can take on Murakami's expansive paintings and gigantic (inflatable) "Ego," just so happens we've got one or two classes for that. A handful of painting classes are still open as well as the ever-instantly-filled-up "Inflatable Sculpture" class.

We've got a feeling you might have a healthier relationship with your "Ego" then good ol' Murakami. Why not find out?

-- Perrin Drumm

The Photo Surgery of Bobby Neel Adams' "Agemaps"

We were recently introduced to photographer Bobby Neel Adams' project, "Agemaps," which--for the visual aficianado out there--may remind you of Irina Werning's "Back to the Future" series from last year. It's a similar exercise in the meticulous replication of old film stock, lighting, art direction and facial expression--not to mention the freaky effect of looking at yourself today the way you were decades ago.

Adams has a similar goal, but by ripping his subjects' faces down the middle and pairing their adult faces with their faces as children, the contrast is much more striking. There's something haunting about how much a white-haired, seventy-year-old man looks like he did as a young boy, all decked out in his sailor suit and ready to have his photo taken. Adams has several other series that use similar techniques which he deems "photo-surgery."

If Adams' is the type of work that gets you going, feel free to peruse the slew of Alternate Process and Image Manipulation classes we've recently added.

Meanwhile, check out Adams' "Family Tree," a series of portraits of immediate family members (father/son, mother/daughter) that shows DNA at work without the use of photoshop.

-- Perrin Drumm

The Two Sculptured Sides of Barry X Ball and Matthew Barney

There are two things you may not be able to tell from looking at the above picture of "BXB Dual-Dual Portrait," by Barry X Ball. Number one: those are the faces of sculptor Barry X Ball and "Cremaster"-maker Matthew Barney. Number two: both hanging sculptures are made out of portoro marble and solid Portugese gold. Not surprising when you look through some of Ball's previous works (he even breaks down the steps of his process here); he's known to make solid stone look like a translucent veil. Still, there's something about the texture of this particular piece that made us initially think it was papier-mâché.

Aside from materials, we thought we had this piece pretty much digested--as in: the two-tone, happy face/sad face speaks to the duality of man, no? Well here's Ball's take:

"The composite figures richly embossed, in a manner reminiscent of late-renaissance milanese parade armor, with a cornucopia of silhouetted motifs: abrahamic ecclesiastical symbols, animals, decorative flourishes, and protuberant, warty, half-spheres...differing surface treatments keyed to the corresponding swag-draped corporeal flay strata: a glistening sheen for the splayed entrails, miniature horizontal flutes for the mid-level viscera, and gnarled, ridged, sfumato-esque soft-focus ornamental relief for the epidermis, with eyes, oral features, and the mutilated face gleaming, respectively, with a moist, lachrymal/salivary/mucosal polish, with mannered, attenuated, crown-like cranium-top shatter-burst exit-wounds." 

Maybe it helps to see it in person? You can in Paris next month; Ball has a solo show at Galerie Nathalie Obadia from March 17 - May 16, 2012.

Ahem, though maybe not planning on being in Paris next month but want to take a stab at one-upping Mr. Ball (and subsequently, his muse Mr. Barney)? 3rd Ward's got classes for that.

Meanwhile, hit the jump now for a couple more crucial shots of the piece.