Search Results for: art

Anthropology of Small Mythological Characters

July 11, 2011 By arne hendriks 1

Undoubtedly myths have some responsibility for how we define our relationship with the small. Mythical explanations of the world often present small beings as metaphors for the unexplainable. The small have become a space to project human desires, fears, ideals and ideas. Knowledge of this vast…

The Dactylian Five

June 24, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

Frenchman Florent Marrot participated in a series of 10 weekly explorations of shrinking mankind at the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam. One of his rather curious responses to the idea of becoming smaller was to divide himself into five 50 cm small versions of himself, thus…

Shrink Tourist

June 14, 2011 By arne hendriks 1

Jim Hejl keeps a website called Jim’s Big Things with photos of himself near (you guessed it) BIG things. He typically finds these things near freeways, in shopping malls, in restaurants and amusement parks. It started harmlessly with a single blurry photo of Jim next to a…

Pigeon Time

June 6, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

During a workshop organized by The Incredible Shrinking Man, Robert Nelk asked himself why pigeons sit so carelessly on the road when cars race towards them. They’re not particularly bothered by the approaching danger and only fly away in the last moment. Nelk wondered if this…

Barbie Doll Illusion

May 29, 2011 By arne hendriks 3

A group of neuroscientists of the Group Ehrsson at the Swedish Karolinska Institutet investigated how body size influences the way we visually perceive the world, and if there is truth in the idea that it is our body that serves as a fundamental reference in visual perception…

Research Marionette

May 28, 2011 By arne hendriks 1

If we’re ever going to be convinced that shrinking the body is a serious option we must first project ourselves into that situation. With the help of Gitta Lichthart we developed 3 research marionettes aimed at doing just that. When one of those 50 centimeter…

Kerosine Billions

May 22, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

Dr. Andrew Dannenberg investigated that if the weight of every US citizens increases with 10 pounds, airtravel in the USA alone will use well over 1.3 billion liters of extra kerosine. That’s a lot of fuel and extra CO2,  and that’s just in America. If…

Small Wonder

May 14, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

Jyoti Amge is the world’s smallest girl. She weighs about 5 kilograms and at 58 cm’s her height  is really close to The Incredible Shrinking Man’s projected future size of 50 centimeter. She has been the subject of numerous documentaries and enjoys her star status.…

Snow Flakes & Weaver Birds

May 9, 2011 By arne hendriks 1

Scaling ourselves down has the promise of something truly magical. Not just the magic of becoming smaller but magical in the sense of real transformative knowledge. If small, we will be able to come closer to, or even enter, what is now often beyond our…

Of Snell Mice and Men

April 17, 2011 By arne hendriks 1

Mice and men display striking genetic similarities in hormone dependent growth disturbances. If a mouse responds in a certain way to a genetic mutation, chances are that a human will respond in similar fashion. The first dwarf mouse was discovered by Nobel Prize winner George Snell in…

Relative Strength Empowerment

April 10, 2011 By arne hendriks 3

Every 20% increase in height is a 73% increase in weight, yet muscles only become 44% stronger ( that’s about the equivalent to increase in surface area), and bones less than that. There is a clear limit to the amount of surplus strength tall people…

Bantam Astronauts

March 24, 2011 By arne hendriks 1

Perhaps it’s our desire to go to Mars that in the end will lead to smaller human beings. NASA is obsessed by the immense costs of putting things into space. Every extra pound sets them back thousands of dollars. That’s why it is perhaps not surprising…

Baby Fruit

March 19, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

The upper end of the restaurant market is flooded by baby fruit and vegetables. Baby coconuts, Baby pineapples Baby courgettes, Baby every-single-fruit and vegetable-you-can-imagine. In today’s market only the products that catch the attention of consumers have a chance of becoming economically succesful. Playing with…

Homo Sindhiensis

March 6, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

If anthropology teaches us one thing it is that the human species was, and is, in a continuous state of development. Homo Sapiens, much like Homo Floresiensis, probably will eventually change into a new species, a species better equiped to deal with the challenges of…

Mapping Shrink Culture

February 27, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

Over the past 10 months The Incredible Shrinking Man research collected a wide array of shrink facts, figures and visions. The categories spanned everything from science to art, from history to genetics and entertainment, from technology to psychology and so on. We have deliberately not…

GHRHR

February 11, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

It seems as if nature itself is already investigating ways to counter hypergrowth, overpopulation and overconsumption. It’s creating perfectly proportioned, but small, human beings. Pituitary dwarfism, also known as Dwarfism of Sindh, is a form of growth absense where all parts of the body grow equally slow. At…

Robert Therrien

February 1, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

Robert Therrien makes monumental sculptures and installations, often in the shape of tables and chairs. In terms of material and form his works corresponds to the model down to the smallest details, but in scale the sculpture differs dramatically. The furniture has assumed such proportions…

Speculative Cooking

January 31, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

In preparation for TransNatural and the Disproportionate Restaurant a public research kitchen was set up in the Waag in Amsterdam. Chef Martijn Jansen, together with several guests, investigated and speculated on our future relationship with food, ingredients, and cooking techniques. The kitchen was located right in…

Asia Komarova

January 29, 2011 By arne hendriks 1

Asia Komarova works as a professional sushi chef and artist. She’s responsible for the shrinking man’s investigation of small foods of the future and in the present.  Her website.

Dwarfism of Sindh

January 18, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

Donald Platt points out an interesting case of dwarfism in Pakistan. In 1994, an article appeared in a Pakistan newspaper, describing the existence of a cluster of familial dwarfism in two remote villages in the lower Indus valley.  The subjects were perfectly proportioned and in…