Showing 3 posts tagged salt
From the BBC’s Wild South America, fly above the phenomenally massive volcanoes high up in the Andes mountain range in South America’s Altiplano. Plus, witness the region’s flamingos as they “dance” in a colony together — quite a sight to see!
via Chirpy.tv.
Turning light into heat 24 hours a day, Concentrated Solar Power plus molten salt storage technology (CSP+) works like a typical steam turbine/electrical power generator system on the inside, but on the outside, it is a phenomenal scene of massive mirrors and a brightly-lit tower right out of a sci-fi novel! There are a few different concentration systems, and new mirror designs continue to break ground.
Spain currently leads the way on operating stations and projects under construction, but solar thermal power stations are becoming a more popular energy solution in the United States, too, with over two dozen new plants announced! Take a tour:
Russell Beard of Earthrise goes on a tour of Gemasolar, near Seville, Spain - the first Concentrated Solar Thermal Power plus molten salt storage (CSP+) plant to produce energy 24 hours per day. This power tower plant produces 20MW, enough to power 25,000 homes but much bigger CSP+ plants are now being in the Middle East and the US that will produce 100MW and 150MW. Even larger CSP+ plants are possible.
24/7 solar! The kid should see this.
Japanese artist Motoi Yamamoto creates intricate temporary installations using salt — an essential material for both the human body and the ocean. He pours the tiny grains into images that look very different far away than they do up close — maze-like, lace-like, map-like, nature-like, and tempest-like patterns that are specially designed for the installation space, and then are swept up by gallery patrons returned to the sea at the end of the exhibitions.
His inspiration came from grief:
The mainspring of my work is derived from the death of my sister from brain cancer… Since then, I have had the dilemma, in grief and surprise, of thinking about what I had and lost. I started making art works that reflected such feelings and continue it as if I were writing a diary. Many of my works take the form of labyrinths with complicated patterns, ruined and abandoned staircases or too narrow life-size tunnels, and all these works are made with salt. A common perception towards them is “nearly reachable, yet not quite” or “nearly conceivable, yet not quite”…
Drawing a labyrinth with salt is like following a trace of my memory. Memories seem to change and vanish as time goes by. However, what I sought for was the way in which I could touch a precious moment in my memories which cannot be attained through pictures or writings. What I look for at the end of the act of drawing could be a feeling of touching a precious memory.
For a deeper dive, this 12 minute documentary by John Reynolds & Lee Donaldson explores Yamamoto’s breathtaking work further.
h/t This Is Colossal.
