Why all-white paintings hang in major museums
"Yes, you could do it, but you didn't." A six-minute explanation of why minimalist paintings occasionally sell for $20 million.
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A collection of 1272 issues
Analog loading screens
From Raphael Vangelis, a fun little homage to all the time we spend waiting for our computers to load, our crashes to correct, our digital experiences to hurry the hell up. See also, the making of.
The collective behavior of schools of fish
A brief video about schooling fish and the workings of swarms, from bioGraphic Magazine. In each of these cases, individuals move through their environment and respond to threats and opportunities almost simultaneously, forming an undulating enclave that seems to operate as a single entity. Such coordinated movement requires the rapid
Like a Hyperloop on a boat
YouTuber JeffHK is a merchant marine who mounted a camera aboard a cargo ship for a 30-day trip from the Red Sea to Hong Kong. The result is this timelapse video, which captures incredible views of stars, weather, and shipping traffic. We were curious how far that journey appears
Micro-dwellings include offices built underneath commuters
Some tiny-office envy to start your Tuesday: Designer Fernando Abellanas builds a secret studio beneath a busy overpass in Spain.
A Prairie Home Companion runs Shakespeare through autocorrect
A new iPhone debuts tomorrow, so spare a thought for how much smartphones have influenced our lives—which "Autocorrect Playhouse" has fun here lampooning in this scene from "William Shakira Pretty's Rodeo and Julio" (transcript here).
A garment that grows with your children
Designer Ryan Mario Yasin wins an award for making children's clothes with permanent, expandable pleats. One item of clothing can fit the same kid from six to 36 months.
Harmonic Oscillator
This, from Andrew Myers, is either metronomes set to Bach's "Prelude and Fugue No. 3" or the other way around. You decide.
The history of skiing in China
In case you wind up eating lunch at your desk today: a history of skiing in China, from hunter-gather transportation to aspirational recreation for today's middle class. Which reminds us: Snowboarding actually got its start in Turkey.
An improbable art gallery installation of two billion small spheres
A short film by Maxim Zhestkov, in which many tiny spheres roll around in white rooms. “The film is a trial to explore the idea that everything around us and inside us is made from simple elements or blocks which can be arranged in complex relationships and become compound structures,