Artist Okuda San Miguel Sets a 82-Foot Sculpture Aflame for the Falles Festival in Valencia

A Preview of the Second Annual Nuart Aberdeen Street Art Festival

Mural by Fintan Magee (2017), all images taken by Ian Cox, courtesy of Nuart Aberdeen

Fintan Magee (2017)

The second annual Nuart Aberdeen kicks off next month, celebrating the work of international street artists with workshops, guided tours, and film screenings throughout the course of the four-day festival. The public art platform aims to activate its local art scene while also encouraging visiting artists to collaborate with its twin city of Stavanger, which has hosted the original Nuart Festival for the last 17 years.

In 2017 the Scotland-based festival presented site-specific murals and interventions by Fintan Magee, Martin Whatson, Add Fuel, Jaune, and more. This year’s installations and temporary exhibitions will center around the theme “A Revolution of the Ordinary,” and include work by international artists Bordalo II, Bortusk Leer, Carrie Reichardt, Dr. D, Elki, Ernest Zacharevic, Glöbel Bros., Hyuro, Milu Correch, Nimi & RH74, Phlegm, and Snik.

The opening of Inky Protest, a collaborative exhibition between Nuart and Peacock Visual Arts, kicks off the festival on Thursday, April 12. The exhibition will feature work by artists such as Brad Downey, Mike Giant and Ralph Steadman, Futura, Martha Cooper and Jamie Reid. You can view a preview of the upcoming festival in the video below. (StreetArtNews)

Martin Whatson (2017)

Isaac Cordal (2017)

Add Fuel (2017)

Julien de Casabianca (2017)

Herakut (2017)

Jaune (2017)

Robert Montgomery (2017)

Stitched Sculptural Installations of Everyday Objects and Gestures by Amanda McCavour

Toronto-based textile artist Amanda McCavour uses thread and a sewing machine to construct sculptural installations that dance between two and three dimensions. McCavour stitches on a special fabric that dissolves in water to create the surfaces of thread. Through renderings of objects like sofas, kitchen tables, and backpacks, as well as arms and hands engaged in work, she explores connections to home and the fibers of the body. In an artist statement McCavor states she is interested “in thread’s assumed vulnerability, its ability to unravel, and its strength when it is sewn together.”

McCavour holds an MFA from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, and she exhibits widely. Currently, her Floating Garden installation is on display at the Cornell Art Museum in Florida as part of their Flora exhibition, which opens today, March 30th, and is on view through September 9, 2018. Flora also includes Tiffanie Turner (previously), and Miya Ando (previously). You can see more of McCavour’s work on her Facebook page and via Instagram.

The Diverse Daily Life of a Ping Pong Table in Germany Photographed by Tomiyasu Hayahisa

In 2011 Tomiyasu Hayahisa started photographing a ping pong table located in a public athletic field across from his dorm in Leipzig, Germany for a series titled TTP. Tomiyasu had first noted the location after observing a white tailed fox perched near the legs of the table, and after waiting several days for the animal to return, he began to photograph the other life forms that congregated or paused near the outdoor game. Rather than spotting the fox, he captured families, partiers, and lonesome daydreamers using the area as a bench or bed.

“At the time I had been living in a student doom in Leipzig and it was possible to photograph from window the table tennis table, how people from different countries use it in their way,” Tomiyasu told Colossal. “And it could be the message of this work that the place could be everywhere.”

If you enjoyed this series, you might also enjoy Yevgeniy Kotenko‘s On the Bench, a project which observed the daily life of a park bench in Ukraine for over a decade. TTP has been shortlisted for the 2018 MACK First Book Award. You can see more of Tomiyasu‘s work on his website. (via This Isn’t Happiness)

Lifelike Sculpted Figures and Immersive Monochrome Environments by Hans Op de Beeck

The Collector’s House, sculptural installation, 2016. Coated wood, coated polyester, pigmented plaster, PU, metal, glass, 20 × 12.5 × 4 m

German artist Hans Op de Beeck creates life-size figural sculptures and immersive environments from materials such as coated wood, polyester, and pigmented plaster. These chosen materials turn his constructed figures and installations into a uniform shade of matte gray, which makes the viewer feel as if the world around them has been zapped of color.

In his 2016 work The Collector’s House, Op de Beeck produced a 2,600-square-foot monochrome space in which visitors served as the only element of color. The museum-like installation contained several life-size sculpted figures in addition to a library, grand piano, furniture, scattered still lifes, and a lily pool positioned squarely at the work’s center. This work, like many in his practice aimed to stimulate the viewer’s senses and to “create a form of visual fiction that delivers a moment of wonder, silence and introspection,” he explained in an artist statement.

Op de Beeck currently works in both Brussels and Gooik, Belgium. Over the last decade, Op de Beeck has mounted institution-based solo exhibitions at museums across the US and Europe, including the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (2010), MOCA Cleveland (2014), and Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg (2017). You can view more of his lifelike figures and installations on his website.

The Collector’s House, sculptural installation, 2016. Coated wood, coated polyester, pigmented plaster, PU, metal, glass, 20 × 12.5 × 4 m

The Collector’s House, sculptural installation, 2016. Coated wood, coated polyester, pigmented plaster, PU, metal, glass, 20 × 12.5 × 4 m

Tatiana (Soap Bubble), sculpture, 2017. Polyester, wood, polyamide

Sleeping Girl, sculpture, 2017. Mixed Media

Brian, sculpture, 2018. Polyester, glass, coating

Tatiana (Butterfly), sculpture, 2017. Polyester, wood, polyamide

The Garden Room, sculptural installation, 2017

Artopia: A 3D Painting App That Lets You Create Artworks for Others to Discover in Augmented Reality

Kuwaiti game developer Omar Khalil is in the process of building an augmented reality and location-based app called Artopia, which allows users to create and save 3D paintings out in the world. Others can then encounter the paintings, which are timestamped and show the username of the creator. Khalil began working on the project as a computer science student at American University of Kuwait. As Artopia nears completion, Khalil is looking for beta testers. If you’d like to give feedback, you can sign up on Artopia’s website.

Poseable Miniature Birds Designed by Katie Doka

Copenhagen-based miniature artist Katie Doka fabricates exquisitely detailed miniature birds that perch atop the ends of pencils and paintbrushes. The feathery specimens are built primarily from polymer clays, glass, jewelry wire and lambs wool or cotton with accents of acrylic paint. Although the pieces are designed primarily for use in dollhouses, their adjustable frames and appendages ensure each bird can adapt to any environment. You can see more on Instagram and in her Etsy shop. (via So Super Awesome)

UGEARS Launches 12 New Mechanical Models (Sponsor)

UGEARS continues to reveal the mystery of mechanics with twelve new mechanical models available exclusively on Kickstarter. Some designs are inspired by real-life prototypes, while others are original re-imaginings of historical mechanisms and the creatures from your wishlist.

All UGEARS models are made of sustainably sourced wood and are powered by rubber bands, gears, cranks, and gravity. No glue or batteries are required; simply follow the detailed step-by-step illustrated manual with instructions in 11 languages to complete your model.

The Horse-Mechanoid, the Tower Windmill, Aviator, V-Express Steam Train with Tender, a Secret model, the Archballista-Tower, the Stagecoach, the Roadster, the Bike, the Heavy Boy Long-Hauler with Trailer, and Flexi-Cubus will be your companions on an exciting mechanical journey through history.

The UGEARS team is continuously working on fascinating new self-propelled wooden models. With your support, UGEARS can develop more new DIY models all over the world.

Whether you’re a hobbyist, looking for an original gift idea, or are simply curious, UGEARS mechanical models provide hours of fun and the joy of creating. The UGEARS mission is to give an unforgettable time of working together on things that are popular for all ages.

This post was sponsored by UGEARS.

A Madrid Plaza Transformed Into a Temporary Park With Over 35,000 Square Feet of Grass

For the 400th anniversary of Madrid’s Plaza Mayor, urban artist SpY (previously) transformed the bustling square into a centralized place of respite. The temporary park titled Cesped, or “Grass,” was created by bringing in more than 35,000 square feet of sod, which formed a perfect green circle at the center of the pedestrian plaza. Over the course of its four day installation last fall more than 100,000 visitors lounged, played, and rested in the celebratory work.

You can watch a time-lapse installation of the project on the Madrid-based artist’s website, and view more urban interventions on his Instagram.  (via designboom)

A New Infrared View of the Dolomites by Paolo Pettigiani Shows Craggy Landscapes in Cotton Candy Colors

26-year old photographer Paolo Pettigiani (previously) has been taking pictures since age 11, and in the last few years has produced several series of eye-popping infrared images. Pettigiani’s most recent work showcases the Dolomites, a craggy mountain range in the northeastern region of his native Italy.

Infrared photography uses a special film or light sensor that processes the usually not-visible wavelengths of infrared light (specifically near-infrared, as opposed to far-infrared, which is used in thermal imaging.) The resulting images from Pettigiani depict the stands of coniferous trees as watermelon-pink, while surfaces that don’t reflect IR light stay more true to their nature hues. You can see more of the artist’s photographs on his website, as well as on Behance and Instagram. Pettigiani also offers prints of his work via Lumas.

New Architectural Sculptures by David Moreno Appear As Three Dimensional Drawings

Spanish sculptor David Moreno (previously) continues to blur the lines between two and three dimensions with his architectural artworks. Created using hundreds of steel rods and lengths of piano wire, Moreno’s sculptures take the shape of buildings, and his more recent works have ventured indoors, highlighting interior details like doorways and staircases. In 2017, the artist also created a large, immersive installation in the United Arab Emirates titled “Connecting Doors.”  Moreno shares his work on Instagram and Behance.

How I Built This (Or What I Learned from Being a Scammy Marketer)

As I approach my ten-year anniversary of blogging, I want to tell a tale. The tale of an accidental travel writer who simply wanted to afford beer, dorm rooms, plane tickets, and backpacker pub crawls.

I shared part of this story before but, today, I want to go into more depth.

Once upon a time, I started this website with a selfish goal: to make money to keep myself traveling. I wanted my website to be an online résumé where editors could see my writing and go, “Yeah, we want to hire that guy!” — and then paying to go somewhere and write a story about it. I imagined myself a cross between Bill Bryson and Indiana Jones. My dream was to write guidebooks for Lonely Planet. I imagined no cooler job than a guidebook researcher.

Anything was better than working in the cubicle I was sitting in at the time.

These days, it’s not about how I can keep myself traveling. It’s about how I can help others travel. Every day, the team and I constantly ask ourselves: “How do we help and inspire others to travel cheaper, better, and longer?”

Today, it’s all about you.

But, back then, the only thing I ever said was “How do I help myself?”

So how did I get from a me centric to a reader centric website?

In those early days, I worked as an English teacher in Bangkok and Taiwan. Blogging was never meant to support me full–time — let alone lead to book deals, conferences, speaking events, and so much more.

In fact, I didn’t care much about this website. I mean, sure, worked on it and didn’t want it to fail. I wanted it to become popular.

But building it into something bigger than myself was not the goal.

Instead, I wanted the dream: passive income. I wanted money to be coming in while I slept.

I was 27 with no responsibilities. I wasn’t looking toward the future. I just wanted the good times to never end.

While I earned a little bit of money from affiliates and selling links on this site (back in those days, you could make a lot of money selling text links to companies looking to artificially increase their Google ranking), I spent most of my time creating AdSense websites, designed solely to get people to click on Google ads. Yes, I was a scammy internet marketer!

I put all that money I made back into these websites — getting people to write articles, optimizing the websites for search, and creating more websites — and lived off my teaching income.

I found keywords that paid well and designed very niche and ugly websites around those subjects. I had websites on teaching English, growing corn, taking care of dogs and turtles, and even raising pigs. At one point, if you went searching for advice on how to train your beagle, every website on the first page was mine.

Yes, those were some weird days. All the content was legit (I hired dog trainer friends to write the articles), but the websites lacked soul.

As time went on, between this website, my teaching job, and those AdSense sites, I made more than enough money, earning upwards of $8,000 a month.

Then one day it all changed.

I was part of this group called the Keyword Academy. It was run by two guys from Colorado, Mark and (I think) a guy named Brad. (We’ll call him Brad for this story.) As part of my membership, we had monthly consulting calls. During one, Brad said, “Matt, why are you building this crap? You know travel. You have a website that people read and like. You have a skill set. Focus on that. This shit is stupid. We only do it because it’s quick cash.”

And he was right. That shit was stupid. All I was doing was taking advantage of the fact that Google couldn’t differentiate spam websites from real websites. Travel was really my passion.

So, in late spring 2009, I shifted my focus back to this blog and, over time, let those other websites die or sold them off. (They made money for about a year after I stopped updating them.)

And, when Google finally learned to filter those spammy websites out, all the people I knew from those days were left with nothing. I have no idea what they do now. It’s certainly not running websites as I’ve never come across their names again.

But the experience taught me some important lessons about creating an online business:

First, until your hobby can pay your rent, don’t quit your day job. There are a lot of people telling you to “follow your passion” — but they neglect to tell you that unless your passion can pay your bills, you should keep your “unpassionate” day job. Teaching English and those scammy websites allowed me to have some income while I focused on “Nomadic Matt.” It wasn’t until the end of 2009 / early 2010 that Nomadic Matt earned enough where I needed no other sources of income.

Second, no matter how good or helpful your blog is, marketing is important. If no one knows how to find your website, it’s all for naught. Those crappy, scammy websites taught me how Google and SEO worked as well as the importance of marketing and messaging. I took that experienced to improve this website, optimizing my content for Google, created products, and started networking with bloggers outside travel.

I think this is one of the things that gave me an edge over other bloggers at this time. While they focused solely on writing and social media, I focused on that as well as SEO. This ensured that I ranked high in search engines, got visitors every day, and helped get my “brand” other there (I got interviewed on CNN once because the writer found me on Google).

And, as I built this community and saw my friends’ incomes collapse with the change of an algorithm, I learned the most important lesson of all: when you create a business that helps others, you create something sustainable and gives meaning and joy to your own life. I hated those other websites but I will work 24/7 on this one because I love what I do.

I don’t agree with basically anything I did in those early days. It was a very scammy way to make money. But I don’t regret one moment of it because it showed me a better way and helped get here. I guess the saying is right. When you find a job you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.

P.S. – If you’d like to learn how to start a blog the right way, avoid my early mistakes, nd get a peek at all the processes and methods I use to continue to grow this website (without scammy ads), check out my blogging course. It gives you all my screts as well as direct feedback on your website from me and tech support from my tech team.

The post How I Built This (Or What I Learned from Being a Scammy Marketer) appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

Ancient Ruins Reconstructed with Architectural GIFs

Parthenon, Greece

Today, views of the world’s ancient architectural wonders are firmly based in their current state of ruin, leaving to visitors’ imaginations the original glory of structures like the Parthenon, Pyramid of the Sun, and Temple of Luxor. NeoMam, in a project for Expedia, has resurrected several ancient buildings through a series of gifs. In a matter of seconds, centuries of natural and intentional damage and decay are reversed to reveal a rare glimpse at what the original structures would have looked like. (via designboom)

Pyramid of the Sun, Mexico

Temple of Largo Argentina, Rome

Nohoch Mul Pyramid (Coba), Mexico

Temple of Luxor, Egypt

Temple of Jupiter, Italy

Hadrian’s Wall, England