Open landing at Bio Bak, one is immediately presented with a host of questions, and none more pressing than, “Just what the hell is this?” And after the initial shock: Why does the French-accented narrator with a megaphone for a mouth have such a long, pimpled tongue? Will the crabby, foul-mouthed metal detector ever wake up again? And don’t those kids know where jam really comes from?!
Such is the chimerical world of Dutch web designer Coen Grit, whose gritty, phantasmagoric creation defies the boundaries of art and websites. It is at times a game, a still life labyrinth of connected and seemingly random creatures and situations, and other times an interactive landscape that begs for exploration.
Recommended by Rhys Dipshan | Monday, August 24th, 2015 | No Comments » |
We’ve all used applications that try to recommend new books depending on what we’ve already read… but what if there was a website that also recommended movies and music… and what if that website did it as a drawn out map? Yup, you know I’m going to tell you there is one. And you know you’re going to love it.
Gnod, The Global Network of Discovery, is all about helping users discover cool new artists that fall within the same web of genre, style, and tone as other artists they’re already fond of. Pretty cool, right? The website takes a moment to generate a map, but once it’s completed loading, it actually groups similar artists together, meaning not only can you make one new discovery, but you can make a dozen.
Try it out for yourself. Either enter in a favorite music artist, film, or author and see what awaits you!
Recommended by Chelsey Grasso | Wednesday, August 19th, 2015 | No Comments » |
When hip hop birthed modern beatboxing in the 1980s, it was a triumph of man over machine, a vindication of our natural rhythm and self-reliant musicality. In the decades that followed, that triumph was drowned out by the explosion of electronic sound. But even today there are corners of our digital word that still pay tribute to beatbox origins.
Enter Incredibox. Created by the team So Far So Good, who self-describes simply as, “We are French, we are 4, we love graphic design, music and multimedia,” Incredibox invites users to tap into their own inner beatbox through their web-app game and music tool.
The premise is simple: you have a cadre of seven clones of different heights of outfits that you each assign to a different aspect of your mix, which in all versions save for version 1 includes Beats, Effects, Melodies, and Voices. Each category has up to five different choices, promising an seemingly endless batch of mix and match creations.
Recommended by Rhys Dipshan | Friday, August 14th, 2015 | 1 Comment » |
This illustration project by Yan Qin Weng is an homage to French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. A pioneering aviator and a war pilot, Saint-Exupéry is probably better known for writing The Little Prince, a story about the journey to adulthood. Saint-Exupéry wrote other books, but they’re less known to the average reader. The Hidden Well, a collection of illustrations featuring quotes from Saint-Exupéry’s other works, hopes to change that.
Weng typically loves weaving gorgeous paintings that illustrate fantasy worlds. Her world only exists in the hours of dawn and dusk, where the birds fly its highest and where the ferocity of nature is at its most intense. The Hidden Well, which explores Saint-Exupery’s works like Wind, Sand and Stars, Flight to Arras and Wartime Writings, 1939–1944, is not only a journey through another artist’s work, it’s a glimpse into Weng’s patented form of fantasy. It’s more than a homage, it’s a dream world into someone else’s mind.
Recommended by The Absolute Staff | Wednesday, August 12th, 2015 | No Comments » |
When someone thinks of high fashion and designer dresses, he or she usually isn’t thinking about dirt, water, and volcanoes… unless that someone is Liliya Hudyakova, in which case, that’s all she’s thinking about. On her simply titled blog Photo & L’art, Hudyakova brings together the two worlds of designer couture and the natural elements. While combing Mother Nature with all things materialistic may not seem like an obvious pairing at first, it turns out that these two opposing worlds actually click pretty well with each other.
Made by an artist with an eye full of imagination and a love for all things beautiful, this blog is definitely worth checking out. It may be a simple concept, but the visual quality of the pages are mesmerizing, and the places they allow your mind to wander are just as interesting. Next time you need a quick break, skip the Facebooking and spend some time scrolling down Hudyakova’s pages instead. Who knows? You may even see the world a little bit differently after doing so.
Recommended by Chelsey Grasso | Tuesday, July 21st, 2015 | No Comments » |
We stumble across lots of cool, interactive projects designed by coders/animators who are looking for new ways to blend art with the digital experience. VOID, a new project produced by Hi-REs, is another interactive experience to join the fray. The project takes you on an immersive experience through space as you fall through a glittery black void, hence the name. The experience is structured much like a book, with a prologue, chapters, and an epilogue. However, the narrative is nonlinear, telling the tale of various black mirrors and ice that can be clicked to reveal cool effects. But if you approach VOID expecting an actual storytelling experience, you’ll be disappointed. Instead, forget trying to figure out the point of VOID and instead focus on simply enjoying the experience, especially the interactivity. Each chapter has a different, cool effect to play with, making it fun for mindless tinkering. Sit back, and fall into it.
Recommended by The Absolute Staff | Thursday, July 2nd, 2015 | No Comments » |
We’re no stranger to unusual Tumblrs, but this one we recently discovered might be one of our favorites. Reading in Movies is, quite simply, pictures of people reading in movies. It’s so simple in its premise that it’s kind of genius. Although there are similar Tumblrs, like People Reading in Movies and Books in Movies, Reading in Movies doesn’t try to put too much focus on what these characters are reading and instead focuses on the simple beauty of people reading, letting the two mediums combine in a way that’s weirdly captivating. But of course, when you merge two of our favorite things, it’s bound to be a perfect concoction.
Recommended by The Absolute Staff | Tuesday, June 9th, 2015 | No Comments » |