Dornob | Design Ideas Daily

Nature of Things: Norway Taken Over by Sentient Objects

Posted: 23 Nov 2012 10:00 AM PST

The lush rural Norwegian landscape comes alive under the creative direction of conceptual artist Rune Guneriussen. Using lamps, books and other stacked objects, Guneriussen transforms the countryside.

Electric lamps and neatly arranged books go from inanimate objects to living herds crowding between trees and around streams.

Guneriussen creates his photographic works without any digital manipulation, actually putting these common household objects out in nature to photograph them as though he were catching wildlife in its natural habitat.

With titles like “A Capacity to Breed and Recover” and “An Upward Displacement,” the photos are indeed meant to invoke that sense of looking in on a seldom-seen corner of nature.

Replacing living beings with man-made ones in these pieces seems to suggest that Guneriussen sees the planet’s wildlife being replaced with technology.

However, the artist’s gentle and sentimental treatment of his subjects also suggests that he is able to see the merit and the beauty in these artificial objects.

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Light Lens Installation Curves Beams Toward the Heavens

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 04:00 PM PST

Cathedrals are designed to let in streams of beautiful light that inspire the heart and soul. But in this gothic cathedral in Kortrijk, Belgium, London studio Troika installed beams of light that made their way up from the floor and into the curved rafters.

The installation is called Arcades, and it was part of the Intrerieur design biennale. It consists of 14 upward-beaming light columns passing through fresnel lenses before reaching for the ceiling.

The fresnel lenses transform the straight columns of light into elegant curves by refracting it in a series of angles. This seemingly impossible phenomenon makes the light itself appear as though it is forming the arches of the cathedral.

According to the studio behind the project, "The arcade of light lies between the intangible and physical, the visible and the seemingly impossible. It asks the viewer to pause and contemplate the surrounding space whilst promoting openness rather than closure."