The Orchid Thief is non-fiction book by American journalist Susan Orlean based on investigate the story of John Laroche, an eccentric plant dealer who had been arrested along with a crew of Seminoles for poaching rare orchids out of the South Florida swamp.
Laroche had planned to clone the orchids and then sell them for a small fortune to impassioned collectors. After he was caught in the act, Laroche set off one of the oddest legal controversies in recent memory, which brought together environmentalists, Native American activists, and devoted orchid collectors. The result is a tale that is strange, compelling, and hilarious.
"New Yorker writer Susan Orlean followed Laroche through swamps and into the eccentric world of Florida's orchid collectors, a subculture of aristocrats, fanatics, and smugglers whose obsession with plants is all-consuming. Along the way, Orlean learned the history of orchid collecting, discovered an odd pattern of plant crimes in Florida, and spend time with Laroche's partners, a tribe of Seminole Indians who are still at war with United States.
Ultimately, Susan Orlean's book is about passion itself, and the amazing lengths to which people will go to gratify it.
"The Orchid Thief is a lesson in the dark, dangerous, sometimes hilarious nature of obsession- any obsession. You sometimes don't want to read on, but find you can't help it"
Anita Manning, USA Today
"....her orchid story turns out to be distinctly 'something more'. Getting to know Mr.Laroche allows her to explore multiple subjects: orchids, Seminole history, the ecology of the Fakahatchee Strand, the fascination of Florida to con men....All that she writes here fits together because it is grounded in her personal experience...acres of opportunity where intriguing things can be found."
Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times
"......Orchids have adapted to almost every environment on earth. They can be mutated, crossbred, and cloned. They can take the form of complex architectural structures or of garish, glamorous, luscious flowers. Not surprisingly, orchids have all sorts of sexual associations; few other flowers are as plainly erotic in appearance or effect. Even other creatures find orchids alluring. Some orchids are shaped exactly like the insect that pollinates them; the insect is drawn inside thinking it has found mate......."
Orchid Fever by Susan Orlean, The New Yourker, January 23, 1995
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WCx6GjD8d4
(text and video: www.susanorlean.com/books/the-orchid-thief.html
luminousinspiration.wordpress.com/ )
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Saturday, 23 January 2010
LightScraper
LightScraper by Eness
The Lightscraper comes to Melbourne Docklands.
Kindly supported by city of Melbourne.
Ignite Festival- 30st May-14th June 09 day (no light) night (it's bright)
Location - New Quay Promenade.
For more info on the LightScraper.
ENESS Interactive 3d projection mapping
KingPower
The King power complex located in Bangkok Thailand,
enjoyed a nightly interactive projection spectacle
over three months.
It all began with a 15 minute projection and live dance
performance, celebrating King Power 20th anniversary,
during October followed by a series of interactive music
and 3d animation scapes till - New Years Eve 2009.
Five Barco projectors where used spaning the length
of the 90 meter building, creating a 6400x1024 pixel
canvas for ENESS to blanket with 3d real-time
animation and sound delight. Using our in-house
3d projection engine "Pixile" we were able to map
and match every surface of the building in days.
Any tech slavey person would assume this type of
huge installation would require months of preparation
and series of networked machines to achieve the task.
We did it all with 1 machine and 1 month. Try that..
"Cross section in space" created by Eness
Cross Sections in Space
Cross sections in space -
a solid cross section of time and space.
Virtual 3D bodies passing through the sections deflect
and ricochet thousands of surrounding light particles.
The viewer directly affects the gravity, direction and
speed as they walk through the space. Beautiful
and infinite formations are created.
Exhibited at - ART Taipei 2009, Invited by the -
Museum of Comtemporary Art, Taipei (MocaTp)
"Openhouse" by Francis Bitonti and Brian Osborn
The illuminated canopy fills the upper portion of a small courtyard in the French Quarter. As participants fill the courtyard the space is transformed by a field of kinetic devices.
“Our objective is to create a fluid public condition which is programmed by habitation and social interaction.” Participants control the architecture through the seating. The ceiling is created from a grid of robotic components. The components randomly contract and expand while at rest. When the space is empty only one turns on at a time. As people begin to occupy the seats under the canopy, more components begin flickering on and off. Two people will cause three units to randomly dance around three people will activate four and four people will activate 5 etc.
Text and images from: "Urban Umbrella" Wins urbanSHED Design Competition
Images :Francis Bitonti/ Brian Osborn
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
New Local Worlds in Section
"A Landscape of movement" Margaret Bursa's project from Smout Allen's studios. The work has interesting structure and is very colorful. It shows the worlds of home craft and experimental architecture.
http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-local-worlds-in-section.html
The Hidden City Beneath Ground
I have found very interesting images of Nic Catford of UK underground. The Sub- Britannic topology tunnels, drains, sewers, tubes and bunkers that curve beneath London and whole UK. I have uploaded just few of Nics' images, where we can see that beneath the familiar surface lies an unknown city. "...People walk by and they don't know the truth...That the ventilation flue that serves to realise the vapors of the regional Metro. And once you know this you feel you are standing at the mouth of the underworld..."
These underground lifelines opne th ebeneath exsisting city.
In his webesite where are more(almost 200 images) amazing photos:
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