The Null Device

Posts matching tags 'viridian'

2010/8/7

25 years after the Chernobyl disaster, a wildlife census in the Chernobyl exclusion zone has shown mammals in decline in the area, puncturing the myth of the zone as an involuntary park, where happy mutants can thrive unmolested by humans. Meanwhile, Germany is overrun with radioactive boar, with the German government shelling out hundreds of thousands of euros in compensation to hunters.

chernobyl environment europe germany radiation viridian 0

2003/11/16

From the Viridian mailing list, an article on the new era of biomorphic design; i.e., doovy-looking curvy blobjects and organic forms made possible by computer simulation and high-tech materials:

There is a new, witty nouveau afoot, from the Vallo watering can by Monika Mulder at Ikea, which looks like a stork, to the coffee and tea set by Greg Lynn for Alessi, which opens like a clove of garlic. Tord Boontje's chandeliers for Swarovski look like clouds of slender branches surrounding a light. A great deal of building in Britain has biomorphic roots, for instance, Snohetta's whale-shape museum addition planned for Margate, Foster & Partners' Swiss Re sea sponge building going up in London and Ushida Findlay's proposal to build a starfish-shape country manor house in Cheshire.

The movement has spawned a number of terms to describe it: Bruce Sterling's "Tech Nouveau", Ross Lovegrove's "organic essentialism", and even "sexy math".

biomorphic design organic essentialism tech nouveau viridian 0

2003/10/7

Bruce Sterling on 10 technologies that deserve to die; which includes the usual Viridian hot buttons (coal, internal combustion and incandescent lighting), as well as nuclear weapons, prisons (apparently people can be controlled easily enough with drivers' licences and ubiquitous computing), lie detectors, DVDs (frail and illegal to back up), and cosmetic implants. (via Limey)

Unfortunately, the page forces you to "register" before you can see this; though it's reasonably lenient in what constitutes a valid email address.

bruce sterling environment tech viridian 1

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