Archive for June, 2008

In-vitro meat (in vitro = in glass)

Monday, June 30th, 2008

Research into test tube meat production is taking place in several places. We don´t have to go through animal production to produce meat? Commercial production are several years away, but seems to be nearing a practical reality.

At the Norwegian University for Environment and Bioscience at Ås a research organization for in vitro meat is being built. The job is to grow meat from animal cells. Researchers in the Netherlands, Singapore, USA are also engaged.

We will not stop eating meat so we have to find sustainable ways of producing it. In vitro production will be environmentally sound, improve animal welfare and make large scale production possible.

The research is connected to stem cell technology and tissue engineering. Taste as well as texture can be enhanced! The aim is to produce a low price supplement to animal meat.

Financing is now needed to speed things up!

The stomachs of the world

Monday, June 30th, 2008

Poor people are on the verge of starvation for many reasons: Increased meat consumption in the growing middle classes of the world, production of animal feeds and bioethanol, reduced crops due to bad weather, trade barriers, food speculation.

CO2 and the production of meat

Monday, June 30th, 2008

Every kilo of red meat being produced results in CO2 emissions of 16.2 kg, white meat 5.8 kg.

Animal husbandry results in large emissions of climate gases, about 18% of the total. The plant foodstuffs required for this production takes large areas, resulting in deforestation.

Perceived reality

Saturday, June 28th, 2008

Realities are made by the media, governments, big corporations, religious groups, political groups. What is real? We are bombarded with pseudorealities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated  methods. They have enourmous power: they can create whole universes, universes of the mind.

Example: What is really behind 9.11?

Algae as a source of energy

Thursday, June 26th, 2008

Production of biomass from algae – conversion to oil.

Research and development is taking place. Large scale economics is difficult to achieve now – genetically modified algae that grows faster is a possible solution.

Algae farms can be used to absorb CO2 directly – algae feed on water, light and CO2 through photosynthesis.

Ocean/offshore windmills

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

New power production systems may be constructed in the high seas where wind is abundant. A number of possible solutions are being developed, and the challenges are enormous.

Windmills at sea must be able to withstand the forces of nature including a saline environment and temperature differences, it must be possible to reach them for maintenance at all times, and we must ensure that the energy it produces can be taken ashore. There are environmental questions to consider: fisheries, birdlife, traffic at sea.

It took a long time to develop energy systems for water and oil, and we must be prepared for similar time horizons now.

The aim of being the new energy source of the world for sustainable energy is politically and economically tempting for Norway. (Gemini)

StatoilHydro´s Hywind project with the worlds first seabased windmill is in development. Central part is the cable connecting the windmill to the shore. Other participants in the area utilizing the cable are Sway with floating sea wind turbines, bottom fixed mills/turbines as well as wave power installations.

Wood the energy carrier

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

We see a reduction in the use of paper. Forests and shrubs grow as before and researchers are now working to convert this growth into energy. 2.nd generation fuels like biodiesel and bioethanol are being produced in the labs in the form of a carbonrich oily substance. Several approaches are being tested in refining the wood for energy purposes. The challenge is scaling up to reach a commercial value. The chain of production will be in the form of an integrated forestry operation where all or many substances of the trees will be used.

Before 2010 Norwegian drivers must use fuel with 5,75 % biofuels added. This requires 230.000 tons of biofuels – and lots of  biomass!

July 2009: An old pulp and paper mill in the US north-east is being turned to the production of second-generation biofuel to be produced from commercial quantities of bio-butanol from forestry industry wood waste.

The aim is to make butanol, an efficient fuel with less corrosive effects than ethanol, from wood chips. Butanol could be an answer for the aviation industry.
The US’s is aiming to add 21 billion gallons of second-generation bioduel to the nation’s fuel mix by 2022. Airlines analysts think it could be used by 2015 if ample supplies can be found.

(Norwegian and US) wood is good!

Galleries / the list

Monday, June 16th, 2008

Tilton Gallery

Electronic and unstable art:   http://www.article.no/en: From November 15-30 Article|08 will be presenting a dozen of international art projects, performances and workshops as part of Stavanger’s year as the European Capital of Culture. Article|08 provides interstices for «unstable art-forms»: they intend to encompass site-specific art which is not yet institutionalized and stabilized by traditional frameworks of production and distribution, art which crosses disciplinary boundaries, which engages unusual contexts and references, or art which is not anchored by permanent static objects. The multiple events establish an open arena for projects focusing on the evolution, ethics, politics and dissemination of technology and science-based illusions and perspectives.

The Google art project is a challenge they have set for themselves / go have a look.

Here is a fine Norwegian one Sogn og Fjordane Kunstmuseum. See their new Gjesme collection in Lærdal.

Artists / the list: look them up!

Monday, June 16th, 2008

Marlene Dumas

Peter Doig

Cy Twombly

Richard Prince

Tim Eitel

Huang Yong Ping (Ping Pong)

Christopher Orr

Georgio de Chirico

Ai Weiwei

Mark Rothko

Olafur Eliasson

Damien Hirst

Arshile Gorky

Agnes Martin

Ramin Haerizadeh

Diana Al-Hadid

Tracey Emin

Zhang Xiaogang

Hariton Pushwagner

Ole Jørgen Ness

The new wave: Artists as movie directors

Friday, June 13th, 2008

Norwegian artist Knut Åsdam will have his own exibition at Tate Modern in London. He will be featuring two films.

He works with sound, film, video, foto and architechtural installations.

Artists are moving into moviemaking. The resources of a studio- and production company are thus made available for art projects. The borderline between independent art and commercial moviemaking is in this way being traversed – with interesting consequences for us all.

Examples are Bill Viola (blockbuster videoproductions), Julian Schnabel, Larry Clark, Pierre Bismuth, Piotr Uklanski, Miranda July, Philippe Pareno, Douglas Gordon.

Andy Warhol is said to be the first artist emerging from the underground scene to enter commercial film production. The Warhol heritage can be described as a willingness to use the distribution and production models of mass culture. We see a fusion between many artforms, collective forms of production and the logic of the mass market.

Moviemaking  entails specialised functions like sound, lighting, picture, narrative etc. You can thus foresee a complete work of art with many dimensions.

Richard Wagner had ideas about a “Gesamtkunstwerk” carrying within itself all forms of art. Will we be achieving his visions now?

(REF. DN-Susanne Østby Sæther – UiO – Preus Museum)