March SEED Salon: GRACE WEIR and IAN ELLIOTT

Tuesday March 7, 7pm, at the Odessa Club (above The Odessa Restaurant, at 13 Dame Court, Dublin 2). Voluntary contribution: 5 Euro.

presenting BENDING SPACE TIME IN THE BASEMENT

The March SEED salon will present screenings of video work by artist Grace Weir, including Bending Space Time in the Basement, Dust Defying Gravity and The Darkness and the Light. Dublin-based artist Grace Weir takes a deliberately low-tech approach to science, exploring the extraordinary process whereby the simplest materials can be used to make claims ranging over vast reaches of space and time. The everyday is juxtaposed to the universal, and time and space themselves are the subjects of household experiments.

The works screened at the March SEED salon are the result of a series of collaborations between Grace Weir and astrophysicist Ian Elliott.

GRACE WEIR has exhibited internationally for a number of years. She has recently had solo exhibitions at the Experimental Art Foundation in Adelaide, Australia and Cornerhouse in Manchester and represented Ireland at the 2001 Venice Biennale, and previously exhibited at the PS1 institute, New York, and The Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin.

Trained as an experimental physicist, Dr IAN ELLIOTT carried out research in solar physics at Dunsink Observatory, Dublin, and in the United States. He is involved in promoting the informal learning of science and he chairs the Royal Dublin Society, Science & Technology Committee.

Endangered Species in Glass

In September 2006 Dublin will host the first ever international meeting exploring the art and science of nineteenth century glass artists Rudolf and Leopold Blaschka, creators of some of the most extraordinarily intricate glass sculptures in the world. Dublin's natural history museum will exhibit some of its world-class collection of Blaschka models not normally displayed to the public for the occasion. These sculptures include anatomically detailed, scientifically correct models of hundreds of species of marine animals, and greatly magnified microscopic organisms... something not to be missed.

Link (thanks George)

Coming soon: Pigeon smog blog

Pigeons could track air-pollution in cities and send the information to a blog. The pigeons (apparently very strong) will be loaded up with GPS receivers, carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide sensors and a modified mobile phone, as well as a video camera, and will be released at the ISEA symposium A Global Festival of Art on the Edge in San Jose California on August 5. They will transmit air-pollution levels to their blog in real time using SMS messaging. This intriguing project has been devised by artist Beatriz da Costa. link
ISEA website