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A list of intriguing things
One: In March, Hong Kong unveiled a gargantuan installation to mark the city’s art month—see the lead image above. Created by the French artist JR, it shows an athlete jumping across a mass of bamboo scaffolding. ‘Giants: Rising Up’ is 40 feet tall and 40 feet wide—and is meant to represent “taking the risk to separate oneself from solid earth, to resist the pull of gravity and feel the brief freedom of flight.”
Unfortunately, feng shui masters are not impressed: “Doesn’t it look like someone who fell off from a building landing on a bamboo scaffolding, and the body is pierced through by the bamboos?” And they worry it will bring bad luck to the city. This might sound like party-pooping superstition, but the same experts warned against another public art installation in 2019. ‘Kaws:Holiday’ featured a giant, inflatable sculpture on its back in the harbour—and was compared to a “floating dead body”—a dark omen that they claim soon came true. Hong Kong was rocked by the bloody pro-democracy riots, followed by the pandemic. Maybe there is a Netflix doc in here—‘Modern Art: A Horror Story’. (ArtNet)
Two: This isn’t new but still wonderfully weird! Rocking Knit is the invention of two Swiss students. This very special chair knits you a lovely homemade hat while you chill out—rocking back and forth. Damien Ludi and Colin Peillex came up with the model in a workshop where they were tasked with inventing a machine that “creates an experience and a material good”—what a lovely idea! And it’s now on sale on an equally quirky online store called Gessato. FYI: it’s an excellent place to window shop:) (Mashable)
Three: Why tie yourself down to any one city or part of the world? How about living on a cruise ship instead—for the fairly affordable price of $30,000 a year? Life at Sea Cruises has opened bookings for its 130,000-mile voyage—which sets sail from Istanbul on November 1. Over the next three years, you can visit 375 ports in 135 countries across all seven continents. Of these stops, 208 are overnight stays—so you aren’t entirely deprived of life on land. Don’t worry, the ship also has all the amenities for you to work from your floating home. And you can rent ‘balcony suites’ like the one below. TBH, we’re a wee bit tempted… (CNN)
