Archive for the ‘3 Antenna aesthetics’ Category
Antenna Aesthetics: Reclaim your city
A collection of pole and parabola antennas in Kreuzberg, Berlin, clustered around a building with the proclamation “reclaim your city” on the top of it.
Its invisible!
I spotted this tower from the courtyard of my friend Misha’s apartment building in Kreuzberg. She had not noticed its arrival.
More antenna aesthetics
Last Sunday I took a long walk on the hills above Bergen which were covered in snow, sparkling under the sun’s bright rays – a surprising occurrence for this time of the year. My mission was to take photos of a transmission tower that can clearly be seen the city below.
Not knowing exactly how to get to it, I asked about 15 Sunday promenaders, skiers and sledgers for directions. To my dismay, no-one seemed to have any recollection of such a tower, even when I was very close to it (though hidden by the hillside). Even more strange, when I actually arrived at it, it appeared that its location at Blåman was a popular destination for tour goers. Had they forgotten where they were going, or has the tower become so familiar, or arbitrary that it has become invisible?
Approaching the tower, I was expecting the warning sign to say “Danger, Electromagnetic Radiation” or something of the kind. I was wrong. It said “Danger. Falling ice.”
It has a collection of parabola dishes with protective covers fixed to it, and looks like the Eiffel Tower made into a weird drum machine. Looking up from the centre of the tower makes me feel giddy.
Moving around the periphery I at last spot the expected sign: “FM Radiation. Entrance forbidden.” But above it, a small yellow sign exclaiming “turn electricity off when replacing the bulbs on the mast lights”. Delightful! Even I would remember to do that.
Some 20 or so metres away a hut is kept company by several smaller “totem poles”, and in the distance I can see the more notorious transmission tower at Ulriken’s top.
Walking homewards, cables are visible that appear to run down the hillside, anchoring the tower to the city below. I wished to get a closer look at it, but time had run out, and my fingers all swollen with cold ….
A few days later I was presented with these majestic photos of Ulriken’s Tower, taken by Marcus Held, an exchange student at the Department of Fine Art here in Bergen. He was on the same walk as me on the same day, but on the other side of the mountain.
This tower looks much more like a ginormous syringe when viewed from the city than as it appears closer up.
Antenna Aesthetics: A tower and a needle
Two more photos for the antenna aesthetic collection.
Left: One of the numerous small towers that I spotted dotted along the road side in the New Forest, Hampshire, UK in August 2008.
Right: A syringe on top of Ulriken’s Top in Bergen, Norway, Septmeber 25, 2008.
The EM fountian bowl!
I’ve just got this photo from Øystein Lia, the project leader for the Electromagnetic Fountain at NLI Engineering. A retired parabol antenna dish stemming from Tryvann, Oslo, that will form the fountain bowl. It looks quite small, but is in fact 2.5m in diameter.
Antenna aesthetics on Wendover Peak
Here’s 3 more photos for my antenna aesthetics collection: snapshots from the Wendover Peak webcam. (Wendover is cut in two by the Utah/Nevada State lines. I’ll be going there shortly for the production of Motherboard’s Desert Walker project, and found the webcam while checking out links to the area. Look forward to doing some EM sniffing there too.)
Antenna aesthetics in Skien, Norway
It’s a busy time. Right now I’m in Skien, Norway, exhibiting the Emotion Organ. It is perhaps the strangest location for the organ yet. A closed down paper factory on Klosterøya – Monastery Island in English- that is being refurbished to house a growing IT industry. I’ve been sniffing out the site for electromagnetic activity – it buzzes, screams, pops and whistles!
Around the site are numerous other dis-functional plants, including a water recycling plant adorned with maiden-sculptures, their long plaited hair twining itself around the structure. Here are some photos:
Antenna aesthetics: Tuscany
On a recent trip to Manchiano, Tuscany, Italy I spotted the following antennas.
(click images for higher resolution)
1. Maremma National ParkCan anyone tell me what kind of antennas/equipment is installed on top of this building in the Maremma National Park in Tuscany?
This magpie was spotted in the park between the woods and the sea. What is it doing there? Could it be a a kind of antenna for the occult? It certainly seemed out of place in a nature reserve ..
2. Classic plastic palm mobile antenna camo at the Bar Il Girasole, on the way to Manchiano from the airport in Rome:
Antenna aesthetics: Signs of the times
Some examples of antennas mounted on signs (or signs on antennas)
Cover missing
A camo site below a sign at the Super 8 Motel in Azusa, California. Note that the radome cover is missing, exposing the three sector antennas to public view.
Rest your signal
…. at the Lemon Tree motel in Pomona, California.
http://www.kramerfirm.com/cells/albums/ftp-camo/normal_cells.pomona.cingular.lemon.20060318.DSCN1462.jpg
Fries, anyone?
Antennas are painted to match the McDonalds barrel sign at the Barstow Station, Barstow California.
http://www.kramerfirm.com/cells/albums/ftp-cells/normal_wa.barstowstation.20060806.DSCN2480.JPG
Fuel and fry
Nextel’s antennas fixed below the gas station sign at this site in Henderson, Nevada.
http://www.kramerfirm.com/cells/albums/ftp-cells/normal_wa.nextel.henderson.nv.2006.jpg
Open 7 days a week!
AT&T Wireless site, at Fairfax and Pico in Los Angeles, is an example of placing a microcell site on top of an existing, small sign.
http://www.kramerfirm.com/cells/albums/userpics/10001/normal_attwsmicrocellfairfaxpico.jp
Security system on the top of Chicago’s Crown Fountain
So here’s the fountain: http://www.naturescapes.net/portfolios/displayimage.php?pos=-318
And here’s the stuff that’s caused some bother: http://www.chicagocarless.com/images/crown%20martian%202.JPG
Sending out the word
An cell site inside a cross: http://www.kramerfirm.com/cells/albums/userpics/10001/normal_cells.irvine.ca.003.jpg
Crucified on a moblie phone antenna
http://www.dw-world.de/image/0,,1233024_4,00.jp
The last outpost
http://www.kramerfirm.com/cells/albums/userpics/10001/cells.celcalbox.2.b.JPG
Out of order?
A DIY radio in an disused telephone booth using a sheep fence as an antenna extension made by Maxwell City participant, Lindsay Brown on a remote island off the coast of Scotland.
http://www.hi-arts.co.uk/getimage.aspx.ID-94195.gif
Antenna aesthetics: Maxwell City
Some photos from the Maxwell City workshop at Atelier Nord, 29th May – 2nd June 2007.
Lab:
(img: sofia)
(imgs: Hc)
(imgs: Maxwell City website)
City field trips:
(imgs: Hc)
In the hills:
(imgs: Hc)
(img: sofia)
Images are taken from:
Sofia’s blog: http://m3me.wordpress.com/
HC’s flickrset: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hcgilje/sets/72157600293515970/
Maxwell City: http://anart.no/projects/maxwell-city/workshop-notes/
The Electromagnetic Fountain 