CHRISTINE NG: May 2010

Sunday, May 9, 2010

News article mash up

The comparisons between the two formidable female leaders are almost too obvious to draw. But is Angela Merkel turning into Europe's new antidote to winter's ills?

The face - and body for that matter of one whose life of amazing courage and superb optimism in the face of enormous handicaps, Helen Keller, shines like a beacon of aspirational perfection. A leader once referred to as "Ms Europe" – is nowadays being dubbed "Frau Germania", and "Iron Lady". She was a perfectly normal child, but when she was 19 months old she was deprived at a single stroke, by a severe illness, of A black and silver beaded bodice and bolero jacket teamed with a white lace tutu by Alannah Hill.

In Germany, Merkel has succeeded in selling her tough – and uncharacteristically robust – stance on the Greek debt problem as a major political victory.

Yet dressed in a Thatcher-blue jacket she posed smiling in front of the cameras in Brussels alongside France's President Kerr's tiny curves and golden-brown tan are accentuated to perfection.

Her world would have always been walled around with darkness and silence but

For most of the world outside however, Merkel still reigns supreme as a sort of uncrowned queen of Europe. As leader of the most powerful nation on the continent, she has been in power longer than most of her European counterparts. Picture, if you can, a little girl who, although unable to hear a sound, has grown into a woman who makes speeches to vast audiences. She has contributed articles to magazines all" over America, and has written several books-books that, because of their authoress's brilliant gifts and her greatness of soul, have cheered and illuminated the lives of countless unfortunate beings. Nobody should underestimate Angela Merkel's desire to hang on to power for Kerr's back-swept and decidedly blonder 'do smack of sun-kissed tresses and a rosy glow on the horizon.

Miranda Kerr dazzles at DJs' spring-summer launch Nicole Bittar, August 13 2009.http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/miranda-kerr-dazzles-at-djs-springsummer-launch-20090813-ejbm.html

Helen Keller The Argus Week-end Magazine, August 25 1945. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article964240

The iron Frau: Angela Merkel Tony Paterson, The Independant April 12 2010.http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-iron-frau-angela-merkel-1941814.html

Valley in America

A valley in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, US. Image source: http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/black-canyon-national-park-ga.htm/printable

Slope on one side, on the opposite side sharp cliff faces and beyond that a plateau.

18 Perspective sketches

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Links

Google warehouse: http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=785cdd559fd1265a6b392a871e5a120a

Crysis levels: http://www.filefront.com/16339953/z3331384-levels.cry/

UPDATED: Objects folder: http://www.filefront.com/16414081/3331384_objects.zip

Darwin and Hawking's labs

Hawking's lab hangs over a bottomless pit of water, representing his quest to understand the universe and his interest and research into black holes and the unknown. The shape of his lab is based on squares, symbolising his holistic view of the world. The overall shape of his lab is simple, yet complex, with a small square cutting through all 3 levels, much like his quest to discover why "we and the universe exist." The connection between Hawkings and the universe is enhanced by the positioning of the lab- it looks out onto the horizon, an open and quite bare landscape, and faces the direction of the rising sun.

In contrast, Darwins lab is nestled in the terrain, surrounded by the earth and suitable for a naturalist.
The shape of the lab however deviates subtly from the terrain, with its triangular form and sharp angles. This represents his theory of natural selection and the importance of variation which enables life to evolve and progress. Like his ideas, Darwin's lab is immersed in the terrain but in many places rises above it to define itself.
His lab consists basically of two floor levels- the lowest of which can be reached by stepping off the top level. This step down is much like his theory of evolution, that things happen a step at a time.

5 image captures

The electroliquid quote again: If we do discover a complete variation throughout the world, even the slightest; then we ordinary people, silently and insensibly working, wherever and whenever opportunity offers, would know the mind of God in relation to the organic and inorganic conditions of life.

Hawking's lab in foreground. Darwin's in background. Meeting place is between the two labs, in a valley. The two labs contrast from each other but finely balance each other across the terrain- representing the relationship between "we ordinary people" and "the mind of God" which may or may not govern "the conditions of life".

Below: opposite view

Below: the meeting place from Darwin's side of the landscape- in the background is Hawking's.

Below: standing in the meeting place, which takes advantage of lighting to create an inspiring and other-wordly atmosphere and emphasise the idea that humans are governed by the rules of the universe.

Below: View of Hawkings lab from the meeting place/valley way. The terrain beyond Hawkings lab contrasts to that on Darwin's side- it is relatively flat and open, like the universe. To reach Hawking's lab from here you must jump, as if you were leaping into another world and beyond our everyday physical environment.