DIGIPENDENCE - declare yours!

It’s been 25 years since Tim Burton’s silver screen feature film directorial debut.

Even before he turned his hand to making movies, Burton was a profilic visual artist. The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York is hosting an exhibition of his work where fans will be able to view over 700 items. The exhibition started November 22, 2009 and runs until April 26, 2010

Tim Burton online: official site, IMDb, Wikipedia, NNdb.

It’s been 25 years since Tim Burton’s silver screen feature film directorial debut.

Even before he turned his hand to making movies, Burton was a profilic visual artist. The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York is hosting an exhibition of his work where fans will be able to view over 700 items. The exhibition started November 22, 2009 and runs until April 26, 2010

Tim Burton online: official site, IMDb, Wikipedia, NNdb.

Scott Westerfeld is a popular ‘young adult’ novelist in the science-fiction genre. His book, Leviathan, published in October of 2009, is the first of a trilogy set in an alternate history World War I universe.

Illustrator Keith Thompson has created a “sort of “Victorian manga” style, part steampunk and part old-fashioned biotech”. Apparently, the plan is to include 50 pieces of art in each book, and most of them will be full page! Beautiful high-quality prints are available for purchase for U$30 and U$50 from the Leviathan section of his site.

Plot summary:

It is the cusp of World War I, and all the European powers are arming up. The Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their Clankers, steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition. The British Darwinists employ fabricated animals as their weaponry. The Leviathan is a living airship, the most formidable airbeast in the skies of Europe.

Aleksandar Ferdinand, prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battle-torn Stormwalker and a loyal crew of men. Deryn Sharp is a commoner, a girl disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She’s a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With the Great War brewing, Alek’s and Deryn’s paths cross in the most unexpected wayÉtaking them both aboard the Leviathan on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure. One that will change both their lives forever

Read the first chapter (PDF). The second book, Behemoth, is set to be released in October 2010.

“History of the Internet” is an animated documentary explaining the inventions from time-sharing to filesharing, from Arpanet to Internet. The history is told using the PICOL icons on picol.org.

Via Wikipedia:

Guernica is a painting by Pablo Picasso, depicting the bombing of Guernica, Basque Country, by German and Italian warplanes at the behest of the Spanish Nationalist forces, on April 26, 1937, during the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish Republican government commissioned Pablo Picasso to create a large mural for the Spanish display at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937) Paris International Exposition in the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris.

Guernica shows the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon individuals, particularly innocent civilians. This work has gained a monumental status, becoming a perpetual reminder of the tragedies of war, an anti-war symbol, and an embodiment of peace. On completion Guernica was displayed around the world in a brief tour, becoming famous and widely acclaimed. This tour helped bring the Spanish Civil War to the world’s attention.

This 3D exploration was created by artist Lena Gieseke. ‘A 3D Exploration of Picasso’s Guernica‘ was part of her thesis for a Master in 3D Computer Animation which she completed in 2007 at the University of Georgia. The Guernica animation was done with Maya, Shake and Photoshop.

The idea of creating a 3D version of an influential artwork came out of doing jigsaw puzzles of famous paintings. When you assemble a jigsaw, you study a painting in great detail and you become aware of the very lines, shapes and colors that the painting is composed of and how these elements merge to create a unified expression. Through the puzzle, you explore the artwork, examining details your eye might not have caught otherwise. Your experience of the painting is intense, aroused by the action of puzzling, but expanded and strengthened by your own fantasy.

This 3D rendering of Picasso’s Guernica offers a similar experience. The actual spatial immersion into a painting is a powerful way to prompt contemplation of its many facets. My project is not only a creative piece of work on its own; it stands in a larger context. It provides the unusual opportunity to view the painting from a unique perspective, revealing aspects that would normally stay hidden from the casual viewer. When we discern the original painting in this three-dimensional reproduction, we recognize which features most significantly constitute the painting. Consequently this three-dimensional exploration of Picasso’s Guernica is an innovative technique for comprehending and appreciating the original masterpiece.