Search Results for: art

Is Global Warming Shrinking our Brain?

August 28, 2010 By arne hendriks 2

This study by Jessica Ash and Gordon G. Gallup Jr. suggests that human cranial capacity as an indicator of brain size grew dramatically during our evolution, and that variations in global temperature as well as progressive shifts toward global cooling account for as much as…

Short Players Live Longer.

July 31, 2010 By arne hendriks 4

The Baseball Encyclopedia provides statistical data on thousands of professional baseball players.  Apart from stating batting averages and field positions etcetera, it gives information on height and weight. If a players dies during his professional career this is also mentioned.  In a study conducted by…

Court Dwarfs: Curiosity & the Tiny Caretaker.

July 11, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

Dwarfs, throughout the ages, have aroused curiosity. Some, like the American circus artist General Tom Thumb, even achieved great wealth by cleverly turning smallness into a spectacle. Certainly one of the most remarkable stories in this category is that of the Italian dwarf Sebastiano Biavati.…

Dwarf Worship

June 27, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

At the end of the 19th century R.G. Haliburton ‘hunted’ for a secret dwarf tribe he believed to live somewhere in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. It aroused quite some interest as this article in The New York Times dated 27 september 1891 shows. The…

Lotus Feet & the Ilizarov Procedure

June 11, 2010 By arne hendriks 1

The dramatic swing in the size-ideals in China is represented in the contrast between the widespread popularity of tiny Lotus Feet, as a result of foot binding, and the contemporary practise of leg prolongment using the equally painful method developed by the Russian physician Gavril…

Shrink Mankind, Stop Working.

June 2, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

According to this article in TIME Magazine children with unemployed fathers are shorter. This is probably the result of what auxologists call environmental insults like an unhealthy living situation and low quality food. The article also states that taller people are healthier people. Or to…

Ron Mueck

May 18, 2010 By arne hendriks 2

Shrinking the human species will be a complicated matter. Presumably not all people would shrink at the same speed, and older generations would be larger than younger ones. The sculptures of  Australian artist Ron Mueck shed an interesting light on things to come. He creates hyperrealistic sculptures…

22 billion reasons to keep growing

May 17, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

In 2003, the US Federal Drug Administration approved the use of human growth hormone for healthy short children in an attempt to make them taller. There is nothing medically wrong with these children; they produce normal levels of growth hormone on their own. They are…

Prisoners of Size?

May 8, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

In the short article Size and Shape the late paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould remembers how he once overheard a children’s conversation in a New York playground:  “Two young girls were discussing the size of dogs. One asked: “Can a dog be as…

Shrink Film Archive

May 6, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

From the surreal explorations of Pedro Almodóvar in Hable con Elle to the blockbuster entertainment of films like Honey I shrunk the kids, shrinking is and always has been a popular topic for filmmakers. Here’s a list of shrink films. Click the title for previews…

From Macro to Micro

April 28, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

As people start shrinking, Earth and everything on it will proportionally, grow in size. This growth of space and resources is actually one of the main reasons to consider shrinking as a sustainable way of inhabiting the earth. At the same time it holds the…

Napoleon Complex Myth

April 27, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

Napoleon complex (also, Napoleon syndrome or Small Man syndrome) is a colloquial pejorative term used to describe a type of inferiority complex which is said to affect people who are short. The term is also used more generally to describe people who are driven by…

Arne Hendriks

April 8, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

Arne Hendriks is an artist and exhibition maker based in Amsterdam. He’s almost 2 meters tall but not too happy about it. Especially when he found out that every centimeter above 152 cm takes about 6 months of your life expectation. Arne Hendriks is a…

Rachel Armstrong

April 8, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

Rachel Armstrong innovates and designs sustainable solutions for the built and natural environment using advanced new technologies such as, synthetic biology and smart chemistry. Her research prompts a reevaluation of how we think about our homes and cities and raises questions about sustainable development of…

The Hobbit of Flores

April 5, 2010 By arne hendriks 2

Homo floresiensis, nicknamed “hobbit”, is an extinct human species discovered in 2003 on the island of Flores in Indonesia. Partial skeletons of nine individuals have been recovered, including one complete skull. This hominin is remarkable for its small body and brain and for its survival…

ShrinkLit

April 2, 2010 By arne hendriks 1

Literature, both high and low, offers important insights when it comes to our view on size differences. Here’s a list of books, periodically updated and expanded, in which size  plays a key role. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (published 1776-7). In this political satire Gulliver meets with…

Pingping (72 cm) dies at 21.

April 1, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

The world’s shortest man, He Pingping, who was just over 72cm tall has died at the age of 21 from apparent heart complications, the Guinness World Records book said. He, whose diminutive body size was the result of primordial dwarfism, was recognized as a world-record holder in…

Exhibition

April 1, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

Although The Incredible Shrinking Man is essentially a research project, we also create public events. There are several reasons for this. To connect with a public, whose ideas and knowledge is indispensable. To deepen our investigation through research installations, and to share the outcomes. By…