BLDGBLOG: Dark Sky Park

BLDGBLOG: Dark Sky Park
Note: This is a guest post by Nicola Twilley.

2009 has been designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Astronomy (IYA), marking the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s telescope. The excitement is starting early, with Galloway Forest Park in Scotland announcing its plans to become Europe’s first “dark sky park.”

The forest, which covers 300 square miles and includes the foothills of the Awful Hand Range, rates as a 3 on the Bortle scale. The scale, created by John Bortle in 2001, measures night sky darkness based on the observability of astronomical objects. It ranges from Class 9 – Inner City Sky – where "the only celestial objects that really provide pleasing telescopic views are the Moon, the planets, and a few of the brightest star clusters (if you can find them)," to Class 1 – Excellent Dark-Sky Site – where "the galaxy M33 is an obvious naked-eye object" and "airglow… is readily apparent." Class 3 is merely "Rural Sky," meaning that while "the Milky Way still appears complex... M33 is only visible with averted vision."
The idea of a human-created dark sky park is fascinating, of course, as are the architectural and landscape modifications that must be undertaken by town councils and park management services in order to qualify for a Bortle score. For example, Observatory Park in Montville Township, Ohio, has been awarded provisional IDSP status (Silver Tier), contingent on "the completion of the park’s outdoor lighting scheme, visitor’s center, and enactment of outdoor lighting ordinances in surrounding townships." The Geauga Park District submitted their 34-page Lighting Management Plan (read the PDF) in August 2008, detailing various proposals for the reduction of local skyglow (as opposed to natural airglow), light trespass, and glare. These include full shading for all light installations and lighting curfews, as well as strategic tree planting.

The concept of shaping the ground to frame and enhance the sky is not new (for instance, James Turrell’s Skyscapes are an architectural attempt to achieve "light effects and perceptual events" centered on a complex reframing of the sky). Nonetheless, the idea of rebuilding and landscaping an entire community specifically for the purposes of experiencing darkness is an exciting one – as is the idea of UNESCO, official protector of World Heritage Sites, attempting to safeguard dark skies as a "natural and cultural property."

Scotland, with its northerly latitude and constant rain (which cleans the atmosphere of dust), has perhaps discovered its global tourist niche: A spokesman for VisitScotland, which is working closely with Dark Sky Scotland, ventured that "the night sky could be as important for tourism as the landscape."

[Image: The dark skies above Galloway Forest Park, Scotland, via the Guardian].

Georges Rousse

Georges Rousse (born 1947 in Paris) is a French photographer.

Rousse's work, from the 1990s to today, generally appears at first glance to be photos of desolate or abandoned spaces (buildings, rooms, parking garages or streetscapes) often on their way to the wrecking ball, on which the artist has superimposed precise geometrical shapes or squiggly graffiti.

However, this is an intended illusion: what Rousse does is to paint these designs onto the abandoned spaces before taking the photo, correcting for such things as the slope of floors or the interruption of beams, so that the painted designs come together to produce the illusion of a simple, flat design floating on the surface of the photo.

This type of work is referred to as anamorphic art. It changes but is only viewable in its intended focus from one precise viewpoint. The projects involve not only painting, but also some construction of sometimes major proportion! Curved walls, angles of light all play into the finished project.

Georges Rousse
par lemurdanslemiroir

Victor Burgin

Victor Burgin (born 1941) is an artist and a writer.

Burgin was born in Sheffield in England. He studied art at the Royal College of Art, in London, from 1962 to 1965 (A.R.C.A., 1st Class, 1965) before going to the United States to study at Yale University (M.F.A. 1967). He taught at Trent Polytechnic from 1967 to 1973 and at the School of Communication, Polytechnic of Central London from 1973 to 1988. From 1988 to 2001 Burgin lived and worked in San Francisco. He taught in the History of Consciousness program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he became Professor Emeritus of History of Consciousness. In 2000 he was Robert Gwathmey Chair in Art and Architecture, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York. In 2001, he was appointed Millard Professor of Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Burgin has also taught at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. In 2005 he received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Sheffield Hallam University (Hon. DUniv).

Burgin first came to attention as a conceptual artist in the late 1960s.^{[citation needed]} He has worked with photography and film, calling painting "the anachronistic daubing of woven fabrics with coloured mud".^{[citation needed]} His work is influenced by theorists and philosophers such as Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Michel Foucault and Roland Barthes.^{[citation needed]}

In 1986, Burgin was nominated for the Turner Prize for his exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts and Kettle's Yard Gallery in Cambridge and for a collection of his theoretical writings (The End of Art Theory) and a monograph of his visual work (Between).

Joseph Kosuth

Agenda / Roger Druet, calligraphie et typographie | etapes.com

Agenda / Roger Druet, calligraphie et typographie | etapes.com: "Le Musée de l’imprimerie de Lyon consacre une rétrospective au typographe Roger Druet. L’exposition questionne les rapports entre calligraphie et typographie à travers l’œuvre de l’artiste, soit soixante années de réalisations picturales et graphiques. La diversité de son champ d’action le mène tant vers la création d’alphabets pour la mode et la publicité qu’à la réalisation de motifs de tapisseries, timbres, livres d’artistes et illustrations calligraphiques. Ses débuts pour la fonderie Deberny & Peignot le conduisent à une carrière de directeur artistique dans de nombreuses agences. Roger Druet participe notamment à la création publicitaire des marques Lanvin, Philips, Dior, Pathé-Marconi ou Perrier et collabore avec des affichistes de renom tels que Savignac et Cassandre. L’exposition retrace la carrière de l’artiste tout en proposant ateliers et animations. Une conférence en présence de l’artiste aura lieu le 6 avril aux Archives Municipales de Lyon."

Felice Varini

Felice Varini

is a Swiss artist who was nominated for the 2000/2001 Marcel Duchamp Prize, known for his geometric perspective-localized paintings of rooms and other spaces, using projector-stencil techniques. According to mathematics professor and art critic Joël Koskas, "A work of Varini is an anti-Mona Lisa."

Felice paints on architectural and urban spaces, such as buildings, walls and streets. The paintings are characterized by one vantage point from which the viewer can see the complete painting (usually a simple geometric shape such as circle, square, line), while from other view points the viewer will see ‘broken’ fragmented shapes. Felice argues that the work exists as a whole - with its complete shape as well as the fragments. “My concern,” he says “is what happens outside the vantage point of view.”