It sounds like something out of a clumsy sci-fi movie, but “rangeomorphs” — fractal-shaped organisms which evolved before plants and animals — were very real. The above digital renderings of the obscure sea dwellers were created by scientists Jennifer Hoyal Cuthill and Simon Conway Morris. Rangeomorphs reigned in the Ediacaran era, 575 million years ago, when life was microscopic. They […]
According to research published in the Cloning & Evolution issue of the Annals of Improbable Research, Viagra makes more mushrooms! Specifically, chemical ingestion of the synthetic boner enhancer compound Sildenafil shows “a significant growth increase as expressed by the numerical density” in “phallus-like” Boletaceae mushrooms. The “fractal” growth means that while this induces the growth of denser mushrooms and greater numbers, they’re actually […]
More often than not, fractals exist squarely within the realm of the digital. Though they closely resemble various natural phenomena–trees or lightning bolts, for example–the phrase usually channels something that was generated by an algorithm and lives on the cover of a ca. 1993 three-ring binder. Using 15,000 volts of electricity and a sheet of […]
DiPT or N,N-diisopropyltryptamine is a very unusual tryptamine psychedelic hallucinogen. Despite its relation to DMT and LSD, which produce visual effects as well as auditory effects, DiPT causes primarily auditory effects. Instead of seeing the walls warp and patterns fractalize, it morphs sounds, like music, voices. If you’re the psychedeli-curious type who wants to experience […]
ANIMAL’s feature Artist’s Notebook asks artists to show us their original “idea sketch” next to a finished artwork or project. This week Birch Cooper discusses his modular sound modules built while he was a resident at Eyebeam. I’d like to try to use this notebook about my recent modular synth work to illustrate the interconnected, fractal nature of all […]
There were some pretty strange creatures hanging out in ancient oceans around the Cambrian explosion, but this worm with legs is the creepiest. Paleontologist Simon Conway Morris, who discovered the unnerving creature’s fossils in the Canadian section of the Rocky Mountains in 1977, was so confounded by its unlikely shape he named the species Hallucigenia. Until now, scientists were […]
American Medium gallery took part in the NEWD Art Show over the weekend. It was a particularly strong selection of work, even if it wasn’t surrounded by the generally beige painterly abyss that is the Bushwick Open Studios sprawl. The highlight of American Medium’s booth is Brenna Murphy’s glyph~garland resonator sculpture, dominating with bright plexiglass and wood objects […]
Frieze Art Fair is the best trip to a luxury pop-up shopping mall a press pass can buy! Maybe it was the illusion of travel from the ferry ride to Randall’s Island or the un-warehouse quality of that giant, billowing, sun-streaked white tent, but the art was very enjoyable. Here some highlights. First, Beom Kim’s […]
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) Wes Anderson’s newest film minces/gallops inside/around a hotel, its visitors (rich hags, writers), staff, proprietors, and one particular concierge whose professionalism is so divine and immaculate, it brings a tear to your eye. And then, the other eye. ALL PERFECT EVERYTHING: 5.0 out of 5.0 This is Wes Anderson’s most opulent […]
2C-I is a psychedelic phenethylamine of the 2C family discovered by our lord and savior Alexander Shulgin. The 2C family of drugs are stimulating psychedelic empathogen-entactogens of which, 2C-B is the most well known scion. It’s been called “explosion” or “introspection” and is sometimes sold as mescaline. While 25I-NBOME is a much stronger derivative of […]
