All images via DailyCognition unless otherwise stated

Where there is concrete, let there be colour; where there is asphalt, let there be kickass graffiti. The world’s metropolises are grey enough places without a hard line stance against graffiti – and the good it can bring. Take Sao Paulo, whose sprawling mass is home to almost 20 million people. When street art duo 6EMEIA started painting storm drains in the Barra Funda neighbourhood of Brazil’s largest city, their plan was to transform everyday life in the way only a smile can.

Image via Say No To Crack

What a great idea. Invisible by their very ubiquity, storm drains aren’t exactly aesthetic masterpieces; functional additions to the urban landscape, sure, but not in themselves the kind of objects that are going to liven up a city’s inhabitants with good humour. Why not spray them with a whole host of designs? 6EMEIA have portrayed everything from animals chomping on their morsels of choice, to a veritable identity parade of other orally fixated mugs and monsters.

6EMEIA – aka artists Leonardo Delafuente and Anderson Augusto – initially devoted a year and a half to smartening up over 50 storm drains in Sao Paulo’s inner city neighbourhoods – areas like Barra Funda, Bom Retiro, Santa Cecília and Campo Limpo. In doing so, they brought a new expression to Sao Paulo’s streets, and apart from the odd piece being painted over by local authorities, it seems even the police just stand by and watch. Worse things to worry about.

Image via What Jamie Found

This is what the artists themselves have to say about their work: “With the painted storm drains, a new type of communication is proposed between art and the city as well as between art and the residents. Art then becomes within the reach and at the service of everyone. By looking with care at the most forgotten and indifferent objects, one can take in art in a new way. The painted storm drains are like colorful drops falling into an immense ash-colored canvass.”

6EMEIA’s storm drain graffiti has been about since around 2005, and pics of their work have been round the blogospheric block a few times. Still, there’s a reason for it: they kick ass. What is hard to get though is the tiresome debate over whether the pieces are Photoshopped. Do the people making the allegation really believe it or are they just trolls looking to get a reaction? We suspect the latter. After all, who’d go to the effort of Photoshopping this stuff when they can do it for real?

Doing it for real is what 6EMEIA have been doing: “The work itself has been well received by the residents of the places which are painted, which affirms the fact that art does not always need to be viewed on the walls of galleries and museums.” Mainstream recognition has come along with several important expositions of their work, but this hasn’t stopped the duo decorating more storm drains – an urban intervention that has become an alternative attraction for visitors to Sao Paulo.

You can check out 6EMEIA’s website here. Extra sources here and here.

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Images via bukisa

The sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) is a marsupial native to the forests and rainforests of eastern and northern Australia, New Guinea, and the Bismarck Archipelago. It was introduced to Tasmania and about 15 years ago to the United States. Sugar gliders are tree dwellers that live in colonies of 15 to 30 animals. During the day, these nocturnal animals rest in hollow trees, in nests lined with leaves.

Not surprisingly, the sugar glider gets its name from the fact that it has a sweet tooth: Apart from leafs, insects and small vertebrates, this omnivore loves to feed on the sweet sap of certain species of eucalyptus, acacia and gum trees.

Here, see my wings!

Image: 7777shark

The second part of its name stems from the fact that the sugar glider has a built-in parachute that allows it to glide through the air for up to 165 ft (50 m), which makes it look as if it is flying. Of course it’s not a real parachute but a thin flap of skin stretching from the arms to the legs, comparable to us attaching a cape to our wrists and ankles and gluing it to our spine (hey, don’t try this at home!). The sugar glider’s Latin names means “rope dancer (petaurus) with a short head (breviceps).”

Weeee, here I come!

Image via newsitemstoday

Being a tree dweller, the sugar glider uses its powerful hind legs to launch itself from one tall tree to glide to the next. Its long tail helps it to steer and stabilize itself before it lands on a branch on all fours.

Sugar gliders are small marsupials, only about 8 inches (20 cm) long from head to toe; double that if one counts the long tail. Adults weigh between 4 to 5.7 ounces (120-160 g). Their appearance is characterized by a blue-gray coat with a cream-coloured belly and a distinctive dark stripe running along their back.

A sugar glider in the wild, hardly distinguishable from the leaves and branches:

Image: Greg the Busker

A female sugar glider’s pregnancy is barely noticeable as the gestation period takes only 16 days. The babies – up to four joeys at a time but most commonly one or two – will then crawl into their mother’s pouch and stay there for about 70 days until they are fully developed. They are almost furless at first and their eyes will remain closed for another 12-14 days after they have moved into the nest.

Not mama’s pouch but also not bad:

Image: SignalPAD

The babies will stay inside the nest for 40-50 days before they start looking for food on their own. The mother keeps a close eye on them at first as the sugar glider’s natural enemies are plenty: owls, kookaburras, cats, goannas (sand monitor lizards) and snakes.

Mother and baby sleeping, all snuggled up:

Image: Wm Jas

Here’s a video of a happy sugar glider colony:

Their cuteness is not an advantage when it comes to their relationship with humans – sugar gliders went through a popularity craze, especially earlier this year after many celebrities were spotted “wearing” them. Fortunately, they are considered exotic animals in many countries and therefore forbidden to be kept as household pets. They are legal to own as domestic house pets throughout the United States though, except in California.

Yaaaawn, are you done writing about me now?

Image: 7777shark

Whoever plans on getting a sugar glider as a pet should really think this decision through thoroughly as these critters bond for life, which is 10-15 years. Sugar gliders are social and affectionate animals best kept in pairs that need about 1-2 hours of human interaction every day in captivity. Sadly, like other pets whose novelty value has worn off, many will end up in animal shelters or simply by the side of the road where they will be left to fend for themselves.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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Ahnighito or Tent meteorite c.1894: Photographer unknown via Meteorite Recon

Like fugitives on the run from distant solar systems, meteors hurtle through the earth’s atmosphere, lighting up the eyes of observers on the ground. Often these fireballs of metal and rock burn up in a blaze of glory, and many do not survive their impact with the Earth’s surface. Those that do though start a more settled life here on Earth as meteorites. Some might even claim to be the new sheriffs in town – they’re that big and resistant to weathering.

Back in the day: Willamette meteorite pre-1923

Photographer unknown via NASA

Here’s our magnificent 7 of the most massive known single meteorites on earth – iron monsters that have remained in one piece for thousands of years.

7. Willamette, USA: Estimated weight: 15.5 tonnes

Photo: Dante Alighieri

At 7.8 metre sq and 15.5 tonnes, Willamette is the largest meteorite found in the US, a peculiarly pitted lump composed of 91% iron and 7.62% nickel, with no impact crater preserved at its original site in Oregon.

Aspiring supermen: Two boys sitting in the Willamette Meteorite 1911

Photo: American Museum of Natural History published in the New York Times

Though revered by Native Americans – who still contend it should be returned – Willamette’s modern discovery was made by settler Ellis Hughes in 1902. Recognising its significance, Hughes spent three months of hard labour moving the meteorite ¾ of a mile from land owned by the Oregon Iron and Steel Company to try to claim it as his own. He was caught however, and the meteorite was subsequently bought for $26,000, later to be displayed in the American Museum of Natural History.

6. Mbosi , Tanzania: Estimated weight: 16 tonnes

Photographer unknown via Jensen Meteorites

Officially discovered in 1930 – though at the time believed to be a stone sacred to indigenous people – Mbosi is Tanzania’s meteorite giant, a large piece of space metal estimated at 16 tonnes. As with many meteorites, there is no sign of the crater it must have created on striking the Earth’s surface, which may indicate that it rolled like a boulder after landing or simply affirm that it has been here for thousands of years.

On a pedestal: Mbosi meteorite 1967

Photographer unknown via Arquivos Do Insolito

Back in 1930, Mbosi was only half visible, so deeply was it buried in the soil; today the soil around it has been excavated and a plinth constructed beneath it, though its original position is said to be preserved.

5. Agpalilik, Greenland: Estimated weight: 20 tonnes

Photo: FunkMonk

Discovered in 1963 by Vagn F. Buchwald, Agpalilik, aka the Man, is the fourth major piece of Greenland’s Cape York meteorite and the smaller of the Cape’s two celestial visitors that make our top seven. Still, at a less than modest 20 tonnes, it’s not to be scoffed at, and can be seen at the Geological Museum in Copenhagen.

Shifting a lump: Agpalilik meteorite being moved

Photographer unknown via Gabriel

The Cape York meteorite from which the Agpalilik is derived smashed into the Earth almost 10,000 years ago and is one of the largest iron meteorites on the planet. For centuries, Inuit living near the earlier located pieces used them as a source of metal for tools and weapons, before tales of their existence pricked the ears of scientists back in 1818. Between 1818 and 1883, five expeditions set out to track down the rogue iron source, all of which failed.

4. Bacubirito, Mexico: Estimated weight: 22 tonnes

Photographer unknown via Meteorite Art

The great Bacubirito meteorite is undoubtedly Mexico’s finest and one of the largest single space objects to have been sent on a collision course with the Earth and survived. Estimated to weigh 22 tonnes, this crooked, four-metre-long slab of iron is on display at the Centro de Ciencias de Sinaloa in Culiacan, where it draws visitors keen to measure up against it.

Dig this: Bacubirito meteorite found in 1863

Photographer unknown via Meteorite Art

The monster of a meteorite that is Bacubirito was discovered by American geologist Gilbert Ellis Bailey in 1892 – who had been sent by Chicago journal the Interocean to Central and South America – and excavated with the help of local people. Like all meteorites, it was named after the place where it was found. A mighty fallen shooting star.

3. Ahnighito, Cape York, Greenland: 31 tonnes

Photo: VSmithUK

The largest chunk of the Cape York meteorite, Ahnighito, known to the Inuit as the Tent, is at 31 tonnes the heaviest meteorite ever moved by man. Rumours of the Greenland iron had reached scientific circles in 1818, but it was 1894 before the American Arctic explorer Robert E Peary finally located its source – with the help of a nameless local guide.

Precarious operation: The Ahnighito being launched on board Peary’s ship

Photographer unknown via Meteorite Recon

It took Peary three years to get the heavy meteorites onto ships – not to mention the building of Greenland’s only railroad plus invaluable Inuit help – but the explorer did contrive to sell his prizes to the American Museum of Natural History for a cool $40,000. At the museum, where the meteorite remains to this day, a display stand needed to be built whose supports reach directly into the bedrock below to hold Ahnighito’s massive 12.1 metre sq-bulk.

2. El Chaco, Argentina: Estimated weight: 37 tonnes

Photographer unknown via Planeta Pia

The largest fragment of the iron meteorite that splintered to form the Campo del Cielo group of meteorites and the 60 sq km crater field of the same name in Argentina, El Chaco is a colossal chuck of a space object. It is the second heaviest single-piece meteorite recovered on Earth – though the total mass of the Campo del Cielo fragments would have it claim the title at a canter.

Halleluiah: Campo del Cielo’s 37-tonne El Chaco put into scale

Photographer unknown via Jensen Meteorites

El Chaco was located in 1969 at a depth of 5 metres using a metal detector, though its surrounding craters – estimated at 4,000–5,000 years old – were reported in 1576 and already well known to the aboriginal inhabitants of the area. Sensationally, in 1990 a local Argentinean police officer foiled a plot by meteorite hunter Robert Haag to steal El Chaco, which at the time had already been moved out of the country.

1. Hoba, Namibia. Estimated weight: 60 tonnes

Photo: coda

The runaway winner at approaching twice the weight of its nearest rival, Namibia’s Hoba must have taken some stopping. Measuring over 6.5 metres sq, this 60-tonne slab of metal is believed to have been slowed by the Earth’s atmosphere to the point where it fell to the surface at a speed that left it intact and barely buried. It’s even been suggested that the meteorite’s unusually flat shape caused it to skip along much as a skipping stone bounces across water. Nice moves.

What have we here: One of the earliest known photos of the Hoba, around 1930

Photographer unknown via Giant Crystals

Thought to have landed less than 80,000 years ago, Hoba is composed of about 84% iron and 16% nickel, and remains the most massive known naturally-occurring hunk of iron at the Earth’s surface. Due to its large mass, it’s not been moved from where it fell since being discovered in 1920 by a farmer ploughing his field – who heard a loud scraping before his oxen came to a rather abrupt halt. Having suffered much vandalism, this beast is now visited by thousands of tourists a year.

One mighty meteorite: Early traveller visiting the exposed Hoba, around1955

Photographer unknown via Giant Crystals

Note: At a rumoured 28 tonnes, Armanty in Xinjiang, China should have made the roll-call, but unfortunately information and pictures pertaining to this meteorite were too scarce to come by.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

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A still from “Time Out of Place” (2007)
Image: Semiconductor Films

People become trains, trains become movement and sound, and time blurs into past, present and future simultaneously. Meet Semiconductor, a Brighton-based artist duo obsessed with our environment, landscape, architecture, chaos theory and other subjects. In creative and original fashion, they have been creating cutting-edge digital artworks – their sound films – since 1999.

Stills from the 2006 installation “Earth Moves”:

Image: Semiconductor Films

The constraints on time, scale and natural forces are recurring themes for Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt who founded Semiconductor in 1997 and have worked with digital animation since 1999. Since their debut DVD “Hi-Fi Rise” (2001), a collection of 14 short films about “sonic cities from another timeline”, Semiconductor’s award-winning work has been exhibited in galleries and at film festivals all over Europe and North America.

The first still above is from the sound film “Time Out of Place” from their second DVD, “Worlds in Flux” (2007), a compilation of 13 short films and an overview of the duo’s work over the last six years. Their technique of using sound to generate and control imagery and vice versa turns ordinary objects and people into noisy ghosts that move around the cityscape. Here’s a preview of urban chaos:

“Time Out of Place” was commissioned by curator Alice Sharp and The Big Chill, a multimedia festival, bar, club and record label located in London’s Kings Cross area, to celebrate the opening of the Eurostar in 2007. Semiconductor has captured the day-to-day activity at Kings Cross, an area that is transforming rapidly, therefore creating a city in flux.

Transcending the linear nature of time and being forever stuck in the present, Semiconductor managed to devise a process for showing the past, present and future simultaneously. And this is just the visual aspect of their work.

The sounds of Semiconductor’s installations remind us of the old folktale about the city mouse and the country mouse: When one fine day, the country mouse visits the city mouse, it first asks about all that noise in the city. The city mouse, without blinking an eye, just retorts: “What noise?”

Still from “The Sound of Microclimates” (2004):

Image: Semiconductor Films

Just like that city mouse, we urban dwellers do not even notice the different sounds and the noise levels around us anymore. Daily sounds compressed into barely 10 minutes by Semiconductor suddenly make us realize how noisy our lives really are and how little we listen to all the sounds. Because we might go mad? Or at least might be bothered by the trains, planes, cars and trucks going by, honking and polluting the world around us? And what about us, constantly shouting, talking on the phone, cranking up our TVs and music systems? But are we really listing – especially to each other?

Semiconductor, here preparing for the Prague Contemporary Art Festival in March 2006:

Image: Semiconductor Films

You see, watching one of Semiconductor’s art installations is not without risk – what might simply cause a “wow” reaction at first might not leave you for a while as it sinks in. So watch at your own risk!

Source: 1

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Photo: Rodolfo

It looks like a warzone or at least a riot in full swing. Fireballs tear through the streets painting the night air orange as young men, their faces emblazoned with fearsome patterns, prowl the streets waging in pitched battles against one another. The incendiary missiles explode on impact – sometimes in the faces of their targets. Pyromaniacs take note. If you love fire – and fireworks or trick or treat are too tame for your taste buds – you’ll be blown away by the Bolas de Fuego festival in El Salvador.

Scorched earth policy: Blazing trails as proceedings get fiery

Photo: Mario Pleitez

Photo: Rodolfo

Every August 31, the El Salvadorian town of Nejapa is set alight by Bolas de Fuego, meaning balls of fire – though some might consider balls of steel equally essential for taking part. In the kind of event that would’ve been banned or smothered by health and safety regulations long ago in a lot of countries, men in opposing teams fling burning fuel-soaked rags at each other. Yet in this part of Central America, the chaos is semi-organised – and part of a tradition stretching back many years.

Goodness gracious: Pitched battles watched by onlookers

Photo: Mario Pleitez

Photo: Mario Pleitez

Some say the historic spark for Bolas de Fuego came in 1685 when the nearby volcano El Playon erupted, forcing the people of the old village of Nixapa to flee and re-establish their homes at Nejapa’s present location. During the eruption, bombs of lava and fire flew through the air, which gave rise to the commemorative ritual. Or so the story goes. According to other versions, the combustive custom marks a more recent violent volcanic eruption and forced evacuation of 1917 or 1922.

Stand-off: Like the antithesis of a snowball fight

Photo: Rodolfo

Photo: Mario Pleitez

Further complicating matters, religion is bound up with Bolas de Fuego in the saintly form of San Jerónimo. By one account, the celebration recalls the legend of Jerónimo fighting the Devil with balls of fire. Another story ties the devout figure in with the 1685 eruption, when the fleeing villagers took the image of their patron saint and named a new church in his honour – but as punishment left the image facing the wall because he had not protected them from the volcano’s destructive force.

Pause before a flare-up: Revellers take a breather

Photo: Rodolfo

Whatever Bolas de Fuego’s exact origins, today the festival blazes on brightly. Shrieks fill the air in Nejapa, but the emotion they express is less pain or terror than frenzied excitement. Despite safety concerns – and the ferocity of some of the point-blank shots to face – serious injuries are reportedly rare. Presumably this is helped by the participants’ habit of soaking their jeans and gloves in water.

Great balls of fire: Burning rag bundles fall

Photo: Rodolfo

One spectator watching kids lighting a melon-sized bundle of rags compared proceedings to the tradition of young hooligans throwing eggs at cars on Halloween. Fireballs may not be so forgiving, but in a country with one of the highest homicide rates in the world, Bolas de Fuego is probably the least of its worries.

Direct hit: Watch for one unfortunate guy getting a fireball to the face

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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Bob Marley and the Mona Lisa at Lileo Gallery in Toronto’s Distillery District
Image: David Griebeling

Rubik’s Cubes can be frustrating for those who take hours to solve them. And even those good at them are not immune to the empty feeling of “what next?” after they’re done with one. Well, there’s a remedy! Toronto-based graphic designer Josh Chalom has turned his passion into a business: He and his team recreate famous artworks like Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa or Andy Warhol’s pop adaptation of Marilyn Monroe in Rubik’s style cubes.

No puzzle, no cry – Bob Marley in cubes:

Image: David Griebeling

And they don’t take the easy way out – no, every cube has to be solved according to a predetermined, computer-generated pattern. No cheating by breaking the cube open! Says Chalom about the challenge of converting a photograph into a blueprint for a new cube work:

“Once we’ve fed the image into the computer, the image it generates is comprised of an almost infinite number of colours. Our graphic artists have to work with the result using only the six Rubik’s Cube colours until they’ve produced the desired end-result. It can take awhile to get the right image.”

That means breaking each original down into a grid of squares the size of one small Rubik’s Cube square. Sound familiar? This is how computers and digital cameras break down images into tiny pixels. Like any artwork based on a pixel-like technique – Chuck Close’s computer-like drawings for example – the cube mosaics work best if viewed from afar.

Bob Marley and the Mona Lisa head-to-head:

Image: David Griebeling

Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe, here seen in a gallery:

Image via mastermindtoys

… and just her eye, up close:

Because the plastic cubes are fairly heavy and hundreds if not thousands of them are used for one artwork, mounting the finished piece is as important as assembly. Chalom’s company Cube Works holds the Guinness Book World Record for the largest such artwork made out of toy cubes: For their cubist replica of “The Last Supper”, they used 4,050 Rubik’s style cubes on a panel measuring 17 ft x 8.5 ft (5 m x 2.5 m). But the company’s already striving for higher goals: A replica of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel that would use up 250,000 cubes and weigh 56 tons.

Warhol’s “Campbell’s Tomato Soup” lends itself to new cubism:

Image via mastermindtoys

What started as an experiment has turned into a business as private clients commission pieces they would like to see recreated in cubes. Chalom says that especially people coming from a math background seem to be drawn to his art and speculates that “it’s something about the algorithms of the pieces that appeal to them.”

If you think this is all child’s play, try it out for yourself and see how difficult it is to recreate even a single word. Flickr user San Greenhalgh has had a go at it and here’s his result:

Image: Sam Greenhalgh

He says of the experiment: “With 6 colors and 900 pixels to play with this was the most recognisable image I could come up with. I think it works pretty well.”

We think cube art rocks but would find it even cooler if old Rubik’s Cubes were recycled instead of using specially manufactured ones from China. Maybe if Josh Chalom put out a call for donation, he would get enough to finish future Cube Works? All those old cubes from the ‘80s must be out there somewhere, catching dust. And who wouldn’t want to donate theirs for a cool cause? Now that would make cubist art really historic.

Sources: 1, 2

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Image: David Schroeter

Bigger, better, heavier – that seems to be the motto of Asia’s amazing Buddha statues. Our list features actual statues as well as destroyed and planned ones but all have to be taller than 50 m (165 ft). Where does that leave the most famous and sadly destroyed ones, the Buddhas of Bamyan? At 180 ft, they are some of the shortest! Read on to discover which one tops the list. A hint: it’s a good 500 ft!

Have you ever wondered why some Buddhas are depicted standing, some seated and some even lying down? And why they all pose their hands in unique gestures? Not to forget the sheer number of gigantic statues. Well, according to tradition, Buddha images must be high enough so that their feet are above people’s eye level to avoid any accidental soiling.

The elevation is also meant as a reminder for devotees to refrain from pride and ego. While attaining enlightenment, Buddha was in a seated position, therefore this is a favourite position. The hand postures are called mudras and have different meanings, for example fearlessness, instruction, meditation, wish granting and others. Regardless of which giant Buddha you may visit, they are all great tourist attractions that easily take a whole day to explore. Here’s the countdown:

17. Buddha Dordenma, Thimphu, Bhutan 51.5 m (169 ft) – under construction

The Buddha Dordenma project is dedicated to erecting a 169-ft Shakyamuni Buddha statue on a hill slope 100 m above the Wangchu River, overlooking Thimphu, Bhutan’s capital. According to the Dordenma website, the Buddha statue is supposed to “radiate auspicious energy over the country and to all parts of the world, fulfilling the prophecy of bestowing blessings, universal peace and happiness to the whole world.”

The 12 m clay model of the Buddha statue:

Image via dordenma

The statue will be made of bronze and then gilded and house 100,000 similar, yet much smaller Buddha statues. Planning started in 2004 and a 12-m-tall clay model was finished the same year. In 2008, the first parts of the actual statue reached Bhutan where they are waiting to be assembled. Once completed, the site is expected to draw pilgrims from all over the world.

An eye of the Buddha, already resting in Bhutan:

Image via dordenma

16. Buddhas of Bamyan, Afghanistan – 55 m (180 ft) and 37 m (121 ft) – destroyed

The Buddhas of Bamyan demonstrate how the absence or loss of a piece of art can be almost greater than its presence. Standing tall for almost 1,500 years, the destruction of the Buddhas as a deliberate act of intolerance by the Taliban in 2001 shook the whole world.

An absence that has clearly marked the landscape:

Image: Tracy Hunter

All were Standing Buddhas carved into a cliff in central Afghanistan’s Bamyan valley, about 230 km (143 miles) northwest of Kabul. The two tallest statues were 55 m (180 ft) and 37 m (121 ft), respectively, and built during the sixth century at an altitude of 2,500 m (8,202 ft).

One of the Buddhas of Bamyan in 1976:

Image: Marco Bonavoglia

The statues were originally painted and their details modeled and pasted on with a mixture of mud and water coated with stucco that was lost over the centuries. Their destruction took several weeks and lots of dynamite. Unexpectedly, it uncovered about 50 caves, some of them with wall paintings probably stemming from the sixth to eighth century.

… now a gaping hole:

Image: Carl Montgomery

The destruction of the Buddha statues inspired the construction of smaller ones or parks elsewhere as a tribute, and even numerous films and other artworks. Plans to rebuild at least the two tallest statues are underway, with Japan, Switzerland and a host of other countries having pledged support.

15. Tokyo Wan Kannon of Futtsu, Chiba, Japan – 56 m (184 ft)

Futtsu in Japan’s south western Chiba Prefecture houses the Tokyo Wan Kannon, a 56-m-tall Buddha statue. Kannon in Japanese or Guan Yin in Chinese is the term for a bodhisattva associated with compassion as worshipped by East Asian Buddhists, usually as a female form. We’ll see other representations below. The one in Futtsu was built in 1961.

The top of the standing Tokyo Wan Kannon:

Image: Mayuno

14. Jibo Dai Kannon of Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima, Japan – 57 m (187 ft)

Jibo literally means “loving mother” and therefore the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy is depicted with a child in her arms. In Japan, the Kannon’s three female forms are meant to depict child giving, mothering in general and being a loving mother. She is the patron saint of motherhood, easy delivery and child-rearing.

Visitors can go inside the 57 m-tall statue or enjoy the enormous Japanese garden with a 14-m Reclining Buddha.

Image via losu.org

13. Guan Yin at Mount Xiqiao, Guangdong, China – 62 m (203 ft)

The 62-m statue is located in the city of Foshan, in China’s south eastern Nanhai district. It stands on a 15 m pedestal, bringing the total height up to 77 m (252 ft).

It is generally believed that the concept of Guan Yin, known in the west as the Goddess of Mercy, originated as the Sanskrit Avalokitesvara, her male form.

The statue of Guan Yin is a popular tourist attraction:

Image: Whw

12. Jibo Kannon at Naritasan Temple, Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan – 62 m (203 ft)

Another Jibo Kannon with child in her arms that bears a striking resemblance to the Virgin Mary. These Japanese images of the Kannon nursing a baby are not considered of Buddhist origin but influenced by Christianity, most likely during the Edo Era, when Christianity was banned and converts were persecuted.

Not Mother Mary and the infant Jesus:

Image: Tim Vickerman

11. Leshan Giant Buddha, Leshan, China – 71 m (233 ft)

The Leshan Giant Buddha was carved out of the cliff face overlooking the confluence of the Minjiang, Dadu and Qingyi rivers in China’s Sichuan province. The statue depicts a sitting Matreyia Buddha, hands resting on his knees, who is so tall that a person can sit comfortably even on his smallest toenail. The statue took 90 years to finish – a testament to ancient building techniques and skill.

Taking it all in stride for centuries – the Leshan Buddha with tourists:

Image: David Schroeter

Construction was started by a Chinese monk named Haithong in 713 CE who hoped that the Buddha would guide shipping vessels along the rivers’ currents. After Haithong’s death, the project came to a halt for almost 70 years due to a lack of funds, then was restarted and finally completed in 803 CE. The area today is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

10. Great Standing Maitreya Buddha, Taiwan – 72 m (236 ft)

The Maitreya or Buddha of the Future is also called the Laughing Buddha because of the large smile that seems to shake even his protruding belly. Maitreya worship is not particularly widespread in China or Taiwan and was even forbidden during the Qing period from 1644-1911.

Long earlobes and the world in his right hand – the Laughing Buddha:

Image: Wm Jas

Only four Maitreya Buddhas can be found in Taiwan of which the Great Standing Maitreya Buddha near Beipu at Emei Lake in Xinzhu County is the tallest at 72 m.

9. Awaji Kannon, Awaji Island, Hyago, Japan – 80 m (262 ft)

The Awaji statue might not win a prize for being the most beautiful one portrayed here but it is located on Awaji Island, one of Japan’s oldest settlements. The statue stands on a 20 m (66 ft) pedestal, bringing the total height up to 100 m (328 ft).

Stern-looking in front of a grey sky:

Image: Takaaki Nishioka

8. Ling Shan Great Buddha, Mashan, China – 88 m (289 ft)

Exactly 99 steps lead to the Grand Buddha, an impressive, 88 m bronze statue in Ling Shan, south of China’s Longshan Mountains. The statue weighs over 700 tons and was completed in 1996. Since 2008, visitors can also wander around the new Five Signet or Brahma Palace that were built close by.

Visitors need to do a bit of climbing:

Image: Synyan

Here’s a frontal view of the Buddha:

Image: Holger Naether

7. Dai Kannon at Kita no Miyako Park, Hokkaido, Japan – 88 m (289 ft)

This particular Kannon is another depiction of Avalokitesvara, literally “the Lord who looks down”. Like a Goddess of Mercy, the female form means to embody the compassion of all Buddhas. This Kannon in Ashibetsu, located in the Kita no Miyako Park in Hokkaido, was completed in 1989. Visitors can climb up the statue to enjoy the panoramic views or use one of the eight places dedicated to prayers between the 6th and 20th floor.

Gracefully looking down upon the world:

Image: 100yen

6. Great Reclining Buddha and Standing Buddha near Monywa, Myanmar – 90 m & 116 m

In Monywa, close to the Po Khaung Taung mountain range, visitors are in for a treat as not one but two gigantic Buddha statues wait to be explored. The Monywa Buddha is the largest Reclining Buddha statue in the world. Don’t be fooled by the length – the statue is also 60 ft tall! It was constructed in 1991 and is like a building inside that visitors enter through the Buddha’s, er, rear. They can then walk from the Buddha’s head to his toes, guided by 9,000 metal images of the Buddha, events in his life and his disciples.

The Reclining Buddha with another huge one behind, under construction in 2006:

Image: Colegota

Dimension check – the Buddha is a building!

Image: Colegota

But there’s more; the complex also boasts of one of the tallest standing Buddha statues, called Laykyun Setkyar. Though it is often billed at 132 m (433 ft), the height of the statue is 116 m (380 ft). Since its opening in February 2008, the statue has become one of Myanmar’s main tourist attractions.

Monywa’s Giant Standing Buddha in early 2008:

Image: Wagaung

5. Guanyin Buddha, Sanya, Hainan province, China – 108 m (354 ft)

As mentioned earlier, guanyin statues depict the bodhisattva Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy. The one in Sanya is located on the tropical island of Hainan, a popular seaside resort. Not unlike the Statue of Liberty, it rests on a specially designed island platform, this one surrounded by the South China Sea. Also noteworthy are the statue’s three sides – one facing inland and two facing the sea so that blessings and protection can be directed everywhere.

Three-faced:

Image: Fanghong

Another remarkable fact is that more than a hundred Buddhist monks from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and Mainland China and tens of thousands of pilgrims participated in the construction that took six years. The statue was inaugurated in April 2005.

A close-up does justice to its details but not size:

Image: C. Ling Fan

4. Dai Kannon of Sendai, Japan – 100 m (328 ft)

Here’s another depiction of Avalokitesvara in Sendai, the capital of the Miyagi prefecture. It was built by a once flush and now defunct company in the 1980s to avoid taxes rather than show devotion, a reason why it is loathed by many locals. Visitors enjoy the elevator ride to the top though and admire the spectacular views of the city.

Is that a smile?

Image: Peter

3. Ushiku Daibutsu, Japan – 120 m (394 ft)

At 120 m, the huge Buddha statue in Ushiku, Japan is one of the world’s tallest. But that’s not all; the gently smiling Buddha with the upward facing right palm and downward facing left palm has a secret – a four-level museum related to Buddhism inside and an observation platform at 85 m.

Three times taller than the Statue of Liberty:

Image: aerogat

The statue was completed in 1993 and stands on a 10 m high base and another 10 m high lotus platform. Just to get a vague idea of the dimensions: the Buddha’s hands are each 18 m long, each ear 10 m and the mouth 4 m.

A landmark greeting visitors from afar:

Image: hagsfam

2. Spring Temple Buddha, Henan, China – 128 m (420 ft)

The Spring Temple Buddha, named after the nearby Tianrui hot spring, was built in response to the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamyan, an act the Chinese government condemned. The project was completed in 2002 and tops the Ushiku Daibutsu by 8 m, making it the tallest completed statue in the world.

Serene – the Henan Buddha:

Image: whipsandchains

Part of the statue is a 20 m high lotus throne but it also stands on a 25 m high building, raising its height to 153 m if taken into account. Since 2008, the hill the Buddha is placed upon is also being reshaped into two pedestals, really letting the statue reach for the sky with an expected height of 208 m. Bigger is better? We don’t know yet.

1. Maitreya Buddha, Uttar Pradesh, India – 152 m (500 ft) – planned

Finally, speaking of ambitious projects, the Maitreya Project is an international organisation that aims to build the world’s tallest Buddha statue in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India. Planned is a steel-truss construction covered by around 6,000 aluminium-bronze panels.

Part of the project will be education and healthcare facilities for the local population. One aim is also to develop the area for tourism, which is why an accompanying park, cathedral, monastery, convent, guesthouse, library and food facilities are also planned.

A computer-generated image of the proposed statue:

Image: Maitreya Project

If all those tall Buddha statues remind you of the Tower of Babel or you think that the astronomical building costs could better be used for housing for a nation’s poor, here what His Eminence Trizin Tsering Rinpoche, chairman of the Buddha Dordenma project, has to say:

“By building Buddha statues limitless people can pray and offer for thousands of years, thus by receiving blessings, clearing negativities and building virtues, this life will be happy, next life will be better at a higher level then finally everybody will be enlightened. The well being of future generations is dependent on the kindness and compassion of the present sponsors, Buddha makers and those who participate in this activity. This project brings benefit to self and all beings.”

Especially in view of the latest Buddha building craze, this list claims by no means to be complete, so if you know of any tall Buddha statues we have missed, let us know!

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

All photography by Vincent Bousserez

In ‘Plastic Life’, French photographer Vincent Bousserez creates Lilliputian-scaled contemporary art using plastic figures and household objects. Keen provoker of the double-take and the nervous laugh, he offers us a looking glass through which to see ourselves afresh, as the moulded, not-so-model human beings we are. By juxtaposing his protagonists with everyday domestic items, Bousserez brings their stories disconcertingly back home – to make us think again.

Bousserez’s themes are as many and varied as the shifting scenes he presents; as the ordinary objects he finds new purposes for or the changing attire of his painted figurines.

In their own particular ways – some more obviously than others – these little folk are at the mercy of the great capitalist slave drivers, work and time. Watches are a recurring motif; people labour.

Some of the pieces are explained by their titles.

Reading waiting for the rain.

Watch washer

Crossing a field

Bain de peid

But titles or no, the meaning is often squinting back at us. In making his miniatures so obviously the subject of our desire to observe, Bousserez draws attention to an age governed by surveillance – where the power of the gaze rules – and in case we miss the point he drops in a few reminders.

Comète voyeuse.

Environmental issues also seem to be on the agenda.

Base consumerism too.

Yet whatever exactly is being expressed, the otherwise trivial significance of small objects is always magnified.

A single cigarette end becomes a toxic hazard beyond itself – a mark of the poisons in our lives, often willingly consumed.

Special Skating

Far from being shied away from, bad habits are part and parcel of the artist’s concerns. “Each photo becomes a poetic and humouristic screenplay which can be interpreted as [a] denunciation of our vices,” Bousserez has said. And not only drugs receive the artist’s satirical hand.

Traditional sins such as lust and vanity also figure strongly, albeit in modern manifestations.

And we too are implicated in eating forbidden fruits by our act of voyeurism.

Some of the most interesting pieces in ‘Plastic Life’ incorporate actual human body parts as ground on which the figures walk.

In this way, curious expeditions become curiouser still.

There is room for the beautiful as well as ugly sides of life in Bousserez’s work.

At once strange and familiar, playful and profound, Vincent Bousserez’s ‘Plastic Life’ offers a welcome fly-on-the-wall perspective on the journeys on which our lives take us.

With thanks to Vincent Bousserez for permission to use his photography.

Source: 1

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Image via heatstick

What looks like a welding helmet and has pretty flowers on the outside and windows to the bird world on the inside? No idea? We don’t blame you. What we’re talking about is the latest hummingbird feeder helmet, a.k.a. “eye 2 eye” because you’ll be viewing hummingbirds from that close. Here’s the story together with some amazing pics and videos.

The view one usually gets – stunning, but not eye-to-eye:

Image: Lori Greig

One fine day, northern Californian inventor Doyle Doss thought about how better to observe the hummingbirds in his garden and after various strong doses of coffee and a night without sleep, he had the solution: a wearable bird feeder!

He went to the local hardware store and quickly built the first prototype from a professional full face shield (painted red to attract the hummers), a graphic inlay with a red rhododendron motif and a miniature feeding tube. Says Doss: “Figuring out how to actually make a miniaturized feeding tube work was the real challenge in this project. The feeding tubes are individually crafted from thick wall vinyl tubing with stoppers for both ends.”

The kit – add a cape to cover yourself and there’s a flowery Darth Vader:

Image via heatstick

Then, he first strapped the prototype over a can of paint to see if it would actually attract hummingbirds. Lo and behold, it did! Excitedly, Doss then put the mask on himself and had the experience of his life – he came eye-to-eye with hummingbirds. Soon, he started production of the wearable hummingbird feeder to share it with others.

Here’s the full video that shows how the feeder was developed:

The wearable hummingbird feeder operates with a solution of sugar-water that attracts the hummingbirds, much like a traditional hummingbird feeder. The only difference is that this feeder is wearable and provides viewers not with a side view of the bird but with a frontal one.

This video shows how close a view of hummingbirds wearers of the helmet really get:

The most difficult part may be to sit stock still while you’re viewing one of the fastest birds on earth flapping its wings so furiously – and here’s a bit more about them before you try it out. Patience will pay off!

Would we spend $79.99 or £49 on this wearable hummingbird feeder? No, but just because of where we are, we’re unlikely to spot hummingbirds in the first place as none have yet made it to Europe. For those of you who are fortunate enough to have hummingbirds flying around in the wild, we can only envy you.

What we like is that inventor Doss aims to find low-tech solutions for everyday problems like how to heat small spaces in the winter – or how to observe nature better. We also like the fact that he’s using recycled materials whenever possible. Way to go Doyle!

Sources: 1, 2, 3

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All photos courtesy of Kelly Munday

This serene, unsuspecting trumpeter swan was captured flying over Lakelse Lake in British Columbia when suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, a bald eagle launched a fierce and audacious mid-flight attack on it. The bird of prey landed on its victim, seizing hold of it while trying to pierce its vital areas with its dagger-like hind claws. What follows is an incredible sequence of photos of avian aerial combat at its most tense and gripping.

Graceful and majestic, the lone swan glides through the air. Yet unbeknown to this largest of native North American birds, a formidable winged predator has fixed it in its eagle eye.

Without warning, the bald eagle swoops from the sky, stunning the swan, whose neck bends in an effort to avoid the deadly talons of its rapacious though much lighter attacker.

The talons of the bald eagle are powerful and razor-sharp. Though usually more accustomed to plucking fish out of the water, we see here their effects on another bird as feathers fly from the swan straining to get away.

With the eagle lunging again and the two birds locked in combat, the next shot has a wonderful symmetry. As the swan emits a cry of alarm, its wingspan (average 6.7 ft) measures up against that of its assailant (up to 8 ft).

Through a mighty effort to evade the clutches of death in mid air, the swan forces the eagle to lose its grip – but its belly lies severely exposed to another strike by the attacking raptor.

Though it still looks dangerously prone, the force of the swan’s flapping allows it to break free – no mean feat against a predator capable of taking prey as large as deer fawns.

Following the five-second struggle, the swan drops through the air, perhaps exhausted from the fight for its life, or perhaps simply anxious to make its escape by any means.

Although attacks like these have been recorded, few avian predators apart from the golden eagle are typically capable of taking on non-nesting adult swans, the bald eagle tending to prey on smaller birds.

While the eagle soars overhead, the swan, bottom right, manages to fly down to the water, apparently not seriously hurt, having cut loose from this breathtaking life-and-death battle.

With special thanks to Kelly Munday for kind permission to use her incredible sequence of photographs.

Sources: 1, 2

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