Hands Landscapes - /  by Mirena Rhee

Times Square NYE 2020 - excerpt. This is an excerpt form an animation I created for Times Square Alliance and a part of a bigger Hands Scape-s project that involves New York City - it is only appropriate as New York inspires me and was the reason I do hands in the first place, it is a New York thing… Coming soon - more! but here is a glimpse of some of the experiments: https://youtu.be/Z4L2MUnXyH4

Hands Landscapes - The evolution of an idea /  by Mirena Rhee

Hey everyone,

It has been awhile since I wrote so here it is..

This page is a bit different in that in it, instead of a cold expose, I will show you the progression and development of an idea. It all comes from the fact that everything I know about working, and working on ideas and eventually developing the ideas into art, all this magic was transferred to me when I worked commercially on video games. In video games we use terminology that has to do with developing ideas and constructing them over time rather than making things. In video games, which is both software and product development enveloped by aesthetic principles, we use terminology like agile development, kanban, source control. To this terminology I will add the Japanese term Kaizen, which means gradual improvement.

All this terminology is used to refer to systems of development where we have a visual target and a product that needs to eventually face a human in a pleasing way but there are very many unknowns along the way due to the nature of the product - a creative visual product supported by a software environment.

I used these methods of gradual development in my own work, where all starts with a seed of traditional media and I use the pliability of the digital to explore the parallel universes where this very traditional work can live. Along the way I encountered technical issues and some, or discovered interesting visual alleys.

Also, please, feel free to click links I have provided - they are hosted on my own projects website and are high definition versions of what is presented on youtube - youtube often has trouble conveying my own aesthetic standards by downgrading the visuals. I offer my personal guarantee that the links are links to artwork and not some click bait where you have to buy things :)

See more here:

https://www.mirenarhee.com/hands-landscapes

The Corrida or not to Corrida? My first ethical challenge on the Camino de Santiago /  by Mirena Rhee

Attention - Very loud video! The deafening sound is the sound of thousands of spaniards clamoring for the Corrida, chatting yelling, opening bottles and eating.

No animal cruelty or any sort of “arena” action is shown in this video - I simply videoed the stands as I was more interested in the cultural significance and the watchers and the people attending than the killing of bulls, which eventually happened and to be precise I witnessed the killing of total of six bulls.

What I also witnessed is a very social gathering where spaniards of all ages, entire families from grandparents to kids, large and small groups of friends, brought food in massive quantities as well as bottles of all kinds, large and small trays and tupperware and people eating and drinking were the main sights. There was also some cheering and response to the bull killing announcer which I did not understand, the meaning of the words and the meanings of people cheering the action on the arena absolutely made no sense to me. But the very social aspect of all did make sense to me.

As a vegetarian and animal lover I had very many questions and doubts but wanted to see for myself what the Corrida is, what it represents, what the attitudes were of the attendants.. in all honesty I was curious... and in all honesty I had beers, saw a line, got on it and somehow ended up getting a ticket. When I sobered up and it was time to go I decided to see it nevertheless and ...also.. can you judge anything without seeing it? Of course i would not attend a guillotining and "see" what happens. But we kill and eat animals on a daily basis without any sort of questioning. Is killing a bull on the arena any more cruel than rising a farm animal for slaughter? I am still on this question 6 months later.

Christmas on Saturn II /  by Mirena Rhee

Animation and simulation with pen and ink drawings, dimensions variable, 2020

With sounds from #Saturn as recorded by Cassini #NASA #NASAJPL

Saturn is a source of intense radio emissions. The radio waves are closely related to the auroras near the poles of the planet. These auroras are similar to Earth's northern and southern lights.

The Cassini spacecraft began detecting these radio emissions in April 2002 when Cassini was 2.5 astronomical units from the planet using the Cassini Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) instrument. The RPWS has now provided the first high resolution observations of these emissions that show an amazing array of variations in frequency and time. The complex radio spectrum with rising and falling tones is very similar to Earth's auroral radio emissions.

These structures indicate that there are numerous small radio sources moving along magnetic field lines threading the auroral region. Time on this recording has been compressed such that 73 seconds corresponds to 27 minutes, or, the recording is at 22x real time. Since the frequencies of these emissions are well above the audio frequency range, we have shifted them downward by a factor of 44.

A Few Words About Saturn /  by Mirena Rhee

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/the_saturn_system_090817.pdf

I wanted to share with you an incredible document on Saturn by NASA.

I found Saturn to be so beautiful it was the first planet I was really excited to see through a telescope here in New York city through - Amateur Astronomers Association of New York. Find them here https://www.aaa.org/observing/ .

Recently i listened on all 7 Foundation series books by Isaac Asimov and in the last series they try to find Earth by looking for a system with a Saturn like planet. I thought to share with you this incredible document - there are also incredible pictures in it. Enjoy!

Happy Sunday from Saturn /  by Mirena Rhee

Happy Sunday from Saturn! From all the planets, especially the planets I am from which seem to multiply. In fact we are made of atoms that have been previously part of stars so I chalk these planetary motivations to my deep rooted feeling for my atoms.

Very glad to have been able to record Christmas on Saturn natively in Unity .. finally.. thanks to my bootcamped mac, unity and christmas..:)

Christmas on Saturn is an animation and simulation with pen and ink drawings inspired... by Saturn, NASA, Christmas.. or Christmas in Space :) and especially a little image a friend sent me from Denmark which triggered a fury of thoughts... The drawings are from a book of drawings I recently completed called

“Hands and Solids".

It is made with pen and ink #drawings animated and simulated in #Unity3D, with sounds from Saturn.

Animation and simulation in #Unity3d with sounds from Saturn #NASA @nasajpl and based on my book of #drawings #Hands and #solids. Also inspired by an image a friend sent me from Denmark.

What is special about a simulation is that it's never the same unlike a movie, no two stills are ever the same. It's chaotic just like the universe, but there is an underlying order. Every time the simulation is run the images are different, no two stills are ever the same.

Sounds of Saturn: Hear Radio Emissions of a Planet and Its Moon

Cassini's final orbits revealed a powerful interaction between Saturn and the moon Enceladus. Scientists observed plasma waves moving in a circuit from planet to moon. The waves were converted into audio we can hear. [eerie, high-pitched sounds like wind]

Time was compressed from 16 minutes to 28.5 seconds, and wave frequency was decreased by a factor of 5. Cassini captured the data on September 2, 2017, two weeks before the spacecraft plunged into Saturn's atmosphere.

I am so glad i have finally been able to record this animation natively out of unity..

The Dalí Theatre and Museum - the very famous Rainy Taxi installation /  by Mirena Rhee

#dali #installation #art To be honest with you after seeing the Dali theater and museum in Figueres all other art exhibitions seemed mundane and pedestrian. And I have seen all the best museums, galleries and and shows in the world. Trust me, Dali was the master of all masters of the 20th century. Sort of like a dream Da Vinci.

I have been to Spain three times, and each time I had a very specific purpose - the first time I wanted to see Gaudi - he was the surrealist of the world of Architecture. The second visit i devoted to Madrid and its famous art museums, including the Royal palace. But of course the Prado, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, with all the Spanish masters in them - Picasso, Goya, I dont really like El Greco to be honest but found out the Spanish kings had incredible taste and they liked Hieronymus Bosch and brought his paintings to Spain, and his Garden of Earthly Delights is in impeccable condition in the Prado and is one of the most unforgettable paintings you would see today.

Any way, this summer i also walked the Camino de Santiago - an 800 km walk through rural and not so rural northern Spain which took me to very small villages. In every village there was a church with an out of this world altar piece in it. I realized the pictorial tradition of surrealism, and the pictorial and strong painterly vein in Spain, is deeply rooted in the church altars of the catholic churches in Spain.

I am in the process of.. still processing my visual experiences because I am also busy with making my own stuff. But the visuals of Northern Spain, Catalonia, The shores of Costa Brava left deep impression on me. I actually cried leaving Cadaqués. Because these landscapes, and I am talking almost all of the Frances Camino Spain, but of course especially Costa Brava… these landscapes were masterly works In-and-of-themselves

my work is always a balancing act in taking in and processing the past and working on the future.

Samos Monastery and the Monastery of San Martiño Pinario.

The pictorial tradition of Spain as recorded by me through my Camino de Santiago journey this summer. It was deeply felt through my body, my feet and my eyes.

I made a proposal for the First Human Art on Mars ( HAM ) /  by Mirena Rhee

A Drawing In The Sand on Another Planet.

Proposal for the first Human Art on Mars ( HAM ) - A Drawing In The Sand. Since ancient times philosophers have been drawing in the sand. …Our hands are a symbol of our humanity, we create and destroy by it, and like in the Michelangelo painting and in the cave paintings of ancient - they carry the human spark, they serve our intelligence to shape matter, and make our dreams a reality.

On the left - Proposed first Human Art on Mars ( HAM ) - A Drawing In The Sand. I propose that a human sized hand print is drilled on the surface of Mars by InSight’s Heat and Physical Properties Package probe. Just like the first human step on the Lunar surface - this will be a cultural step for mankind.

On the right - Red ochre hand stencils in the Cave of El Castillo (c.37,300 BCE). These markings are some of the earliest art of the Upper Paleolithic. Art is commonly understood as the act of making works (or artworks) which use the human creative impulse and which have meaning beyond simple description.

Growing up I wanted to be an astronaut, now I doodle about it. Nasa doodle and JPL DOODL

I grew up with Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, with Isaac Asimov’s stories, robots, aliens, with Arthur C Clarke’s novels. I grew up with Star Wars. It's not that I believe in Star Wars but I do believe in the message of Star Wars. Star Wars inspired me to dream. It was so epic and there were so many great lessons in it. I became a Star Wars artist.

My blueprint for dreams came from the science fiction novels I had been reading throughout my childhood and as a young adult. I wanted an epic life with adventures, possibly in space. So my first dream naturally was to become an astronaut.

I became an artist, now I create worlds and constantly conspire to make things the world has never seen.

Proposal for the First Human Art on Mars or HAM. a Drawing in the Sand on Another Planet

Merry Christmas from Saturn ! /  by Mirena Rhee

Christmas on Saturn

Simulation and Animation with pen and ink drawings, dimensions variable, 2019

A series of stills from my animation and simulation in #Unity3d with sounds from Saturn @nasa @nasajpl and based on my book of #drawings #Hands and #solids. Also inspired by an image a friend sent me from Denmark.

What is special about a simulation is that it's never the same unlike a movie, no two stills are ever the same. It's chaotic just like the universe, but there is an underlying order. Every time the simulation is run the images are different, no two stills are ever the same.

Sounds of Saturn: Hear Radio Emissions of a Planet and Its Moon

Cassini's final orbits revealed a powerful interaction between Saturn and the moon Enceladus. Scientists observed plasma waves moving in a circuit from planet to moon. The waves were converted into audio we can hear. [eerie, high-pitched sounds like wind]

Time was compressed from 16 minutes to 28.5 seconds, and wave frequency was decreased by a factor of 5. Cassini captured the data on September 2, 2017, two weeks before the spacecraft plunged into Saturn's atmosphere.

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Christmas on Saturn II, video still
Christmas on Saturn II, video still