Category: Art

Stealth Hoodie Protects Your Privacy


Around the world there is an increase in surveillance of individuals by private and public organizations. Artist Adam Harvey has devised a way to help people get some privacy back from electronic surveillance through his fashion line Stealth Wear.

If you’re in London you can see the artwork at Primitive Art Gallery.

In the spirit of fooling cameras – and messing with surveillance – Harvey has now come out in a set of hoodies and scarves that block thermal radiation from the infrared scanners drones use. Wearing the fabric would make that part of the body look black to a drone, so the image would appear like disembodied legs. He also designed a pouch for cell phones that shields them from trackers by blocking the radio signals the phone emits. For those airport X-ray machines, he has a shirt with a printed design that blocks the radiation from one’s heart.

More info and photos here.

Toronto Uses Billboard Tax to Fund Arts

many years ago, local Toronto artist and activist Devon Ostrom started Beautiful City to get more funding for the arts in Toronto and since then the project has grown to be quite large. This week they saw their dream realized and now Toronto is using a new tax on billboards (which are a visual blight) to fund more outdoor arts in the city.

Under Crawford’s plan, another $17 million would be phased in gradually over the next four years until Toronto reaches its oft-stated goal of increasing its per capita spending on the arts from $18.30 to $25.

All this represents a dream come true for a spirited and resourceful group of young artists who have kept up the pressure for years for a billboard tax that could be used to solve woeful underfunding from the cash-strapped city, which had fallen behind other major cities in its investment in the arts.

Read more at The Star.

Band of the Month: The Benefit of the Free Man

Hey there and happy Friday!
After a holiday hiatus, Band of the Month is back!

This Friday’s band is The Benefit of the Free Man. A Toronto born five piece with a somber, yet soothing chamber-folk sound. Throughout the last couple of years , The Benefit of the Free Man has offered their sonic services at many fundraising events to help raise money for various local and international non-profits.
Catch these guys Saturday, January 19th at The Annex Live in Toronto to celebrate the release of their debut self-titled EP! Below is a taste of the first single ‘Summer Moons’.

Band of the Month by Greg O’Toole

Band of the Month: Delta Will

Due to Holiday induced procrastination, Band of the Month is late, but never-the-less, here!
Today’s band is Delta Will, a galactic treasure, now residing in Toronto. Delta Will sings of joy and discovery and shares insightful knowledge through personal exploration of our physical world. A relaxing gem for the upcoming frenzied time of year.

Band of the Month by Greg O’Toole

Nature in One Cubic Foot

A portrait photographer has been travelling the world with a one cubic foot frame and cataloguing what’s in the area the cube covers. He has captured the value of biodiversity and along with science, notes that a bio-diverse farm is more productive and healthier than one that is focused on monocultural approach to crops.

There were 30 different plants in that one square foot of grass, and roughly 70 different insects. And the coolest part, said a researcher to the Guardian in Britain, “If we picked the cube up and walked 10 feet, we could get as much as 50 percent difference in plant species we encountered. If we moved it uphill, we might find none of the species.” Populations changed drastically only a few feet away — and that’s not counting the fungi, microbes, and the itsy-bitsies that Liittschwager and his team couldn’t see.
…

We need to feed our planet, of course. But we also need the teeny creatures that drive all life on earth. There’s something strange about a farm that intentionally creates a biological desert to produce food for one species: us. It’s efficient, yes. But it’s so efficient that the ants are missing, the bees are missing, and even the birds stay away. Something’s not right here. Our cornfields are too quiet.

Read more at NPR.