Technabob » belgium

The 55,000 LED Cathedral

Hazel Chua — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:00:07 +0000

Cathedrals, in themselves, are magnificent sights to behold. Each tile, window, or pillar speaks volumes about its history and how the structure itself came to be. Aside from serving as places of worship for some religions, they’re also where special occasions like baptisms, weddings, and other ceremonies are held.

With Luminarie De Cagna’s cathedral however, it’s not so much on the culture or intricacies. Instead, it’s all about the light. And not the light streaming in from the stained glass windows as you’d expect from other cathedrals, either. What I mean is the light that’s emanating from the 55,000 LED lights that make up this massively beautiful structure.

Luminarie De Cagna built this structure that was unveiled and put on display in the recent 2012 Light Festival that was held in Ghent, Belgium. The cathedral of lights stood at an impressive 28 meters and was truly a sight to behold.

[via Colossal]

(Image credits: Stijn Coppens, Sacha Vanhecke, Sector271)

Cobblestone Keyboard: Toe-Touch-Typing

Technabob — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 01:43:59 +0000

I’ve spent the majority of my adult life touch-typing on a QWERTY keyboard, so I’m pretty sure I’d be totally lost trying to type on this giant-sized AZERTY keyboard painted on a cobblestone street.

The image was snapped by Flickr user Ti.mo on a recent walk through the streets of Brussels, Belgium. I wonder if I could type any faster with my feet?

[via Clickr Chart via Neatorama]

Elevator Art in Antwerp: Through the Roof

Lambert Varias — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:19:41 +0000

Elevators have become a common fixture in urban environments. People don’t really acknowledge them anymore; we just pass through them to get somewhere else. Kind of like the Midwest. I’m kidding. But anyone who goes to advertising company Dubois meets Frogger‘s Antwerp office will definitely take note of the building’s warehouse elevator.

The elevator art was designed by Darrin Umboh, who is a member of the Dutch artist agency Shop Around.

The people who work in the building probably get the urge to ride the elevator up and down just to get a better look at the art.

Check out Shop Around’s website for more pics plus a video of the elevator.

[via Josh Spear]

Carwriting: Designers Track Car’S Movements to Make Iq Font

Lambert Varias — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:50:15 +0000

Graphic designers Pierre Smeets and Damien Aresta, known collectively as pleaseletmedesign, teamed up with professional race car driver Stef van Campenhoudt to…create a font. But hey, if you were given the choice between sitting in front of a computer all day and watching a pro racer trace Qs and Zs to make a font, you’d choose the latter too. The resulting typeface was called the iQ font. I’d name it ‘skidmarks’, but I didn’t make it. So.

As you can see Campenhoudt did the “writing”. The 4 dots on the roof of the car was tracked in real time using a camera and a custom software designed by fellow artist Zachary Lieberman of openFrameworks. Here’s the video of the one-of-a-kind creation of the iQ font:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

And here’s the iQ font!

You can download the font here; stills from the video can be found at theokguy’s Flickr page. If you were to make a font, what would you use? Subatomic particles? Tornadoes? Turtles?

[thanks to Ramin for the tip!]

Yay for Art!: Cloaca No 5 Machine Literally Produces Pieces of Crap

Lambert Varias — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:40:54 +0000

The fifth version of world-renowned artist Wim Delvoye’s sculpture is now on exhibit at the Université du Québec à Montréal’s gallery up until Valentine’s Day. Why should we care? Because his sculpture is actually a machine. A machine that “reproduces the human digestive system, from mastication to excretion”. In other words, all this machine does is eat & poop.

Delvoye has dubbed his work “Cloaca”, after the excretory orifice of birds, reptiles and amphibians. The machine-sculpture is made of steel, rubber and glass. A team of technicians is needed to set up Cloaca, after which Designboom says, it is then fed twice a day with cafeteria leftovers. But on its first day at the gallery four artists actually prepared a three-course meal for Cloaca.

I don’t know how long it takes for Cloaca to digest its “food”, but I do know, thanks to numerous, high-quality images, that machine poop looks exactly the same as man poop. If you don’t want to see crap, DO NOT SCROLL DOWN.

Of course you scrolled down. How’s that burger now you curious cat? As you can see the crap is vacuum packed. Why? Why not? As you can also see, the Cloaca’s logo looks really familiar. I guess it’s in keeping with the inspiration behind the artwork: human consumption and the merchandising of today’s consumer culture. Delvoye said, “I wanted to make something that is absurdly unnecessary… I don’t think this biologically correct machine belongs in a science museum. I don’t have that ego. I’m not helping sick people. I’m practically useless in society.” Funny guy.

Do you know any human Cloacas? You might want to take them to the exhibit – again it’s on display at Galerie de l’UQAM until February 14 – or show them more of Cloaca N˚5 at Wim Delvoye’s website.

[via Likecool]

Scooterdesk Puts Your Laptop on Wheels

Technabob — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 22:57:20 +0000

Here’s a unique computer desk design. The ScooterDesk is a self-contained workstation which lets you sit and scoot around your office without leaving your desk.

Created by the Belgian sustainable furniture design firm Utilia, the ScooterDesk gives you a solid work surface for your laptop, and lets you sit in a comfortable upright position while you work. The desk is also available in a dual version which lets you sit side-by-side with another person. Assuming you can agree on what direction to go in, the dual model could be a good idea for pair-programming teams.

While I don’t think you could sit on a bicycle seat all day while working at your computer, it’s an cool idea for quick tasks like filling out forms, taking meeting notes or sending the occasional e-mail.

[Yanko Design via Le Journal du Geek]

Dining in the Sky: Hope You Wore Your Parachute

Technabob — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 03:40:58 +0000

This strange restaurant combines the delights of dining with a thrill of well, a thrill ride. You’ll travel about 150 feet into the sky before you chow down on a gourmet meal prepared mid-air.

Dinner In The Sky uses a mobile crane to lift its entire 22-seat open-air dining room over city streets all over Europe. Before they can leave the earth, diners are strapped into their seats with a four-point harness as if they were about to get onto a ride at Great America.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The whole setup is available for rent starting from about 7900 € (a little more than $10,000 USD) for a day in the operator’s homeland of Belgium. They’ll even bring the dining room to other countries for a bit more money. Those prices don’t include electricity or catering either, so this is clearly an experience reserved for the filthy rich.

My only recommendation… be sure to hit the bathroom BEFORE you take off.

Cable Cat Keeps Mouse From Snagging Its Tail

Technabob — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 19:00:16 +0000

If you’re using a wired mouse, you know that cable snags can be a pain in butt. This clever little desktop gadget helps keep your mouse cord from getting tangled, and looks cute doing it.

While I’ve tried to use my real cat to keep my cables in order, all he does is try to chew on them. On the other hand, the pint-sized Cable Cat hangs on for dear life doing his duty to prevent your cord from snagging.

It’s available from Belgium’s Kado-Fix design store for €5,50 (which works out to a little more than 7 bucks.)