DNA Sculpture Constructed with Shopping Carts 145
Roland Piquepaille writes "The U.K. supermarket chain Somerfield decided last year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of DNA in an original way. It commissioned British artist Abigail Fallis to create a sculpture of a DNA double helix made of shopping carts and to display it during the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign of 2004. The sculpture, named DNA DL90, is 31 feet high and weighs more than three tons. It is on display since April 2004 at "Sculpture at Goodwood," the 21st century British sculpture park in Surrey. This photo gallery contains several pictures of this original artwork."
Piquepaille (Score:5, Interesting)
John.
Re:Is weblogs stealing (Score:2, Interesting)
"ART! ART! ART!" (Score:5, Interesting)
About sums it up.
Does this piece challenge our materialistic preconceptions of the world of science and commerce and force us to re-evaluate our relationship with that which forms the core of our self-determined being?
ok...thought of the day... (Score:1, Interesting)
They should take pictures in the morning of the mutated DNA straind that is Homeless Erectus. I am sure all those shopping carts are a magnet for the vagrants.
Seriously though, how much money was wasted on this. I don't even think it looks like DNA. It looks like a double helix of shopping carts. It was a complete waste of time, shopping carts, and my break.
Helix Sculpture @ Linus Pauling House, Portland,OR (Score:4, Interesting)
The chemis spent his teen years in this house; the sculpture is located right outside his bedroom window where he had his first lab.
A meta-comment about article submissions (Score:4, Interesting)
Very unimaginative. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Great opportunity..... (Score:3, Interesting)
Appreciation for Art (Score:4, Interesting)
But this? This is shit. It's not so much that it's made of shopping carts, but it's more that it looks like a jungle gym and the baskets are just going to fill up with leaves and trash. I can hardly believe that such a work was actually *commissioned* without seomeone thinking of this.
It's kind of like how the city I live in has recently taken to painting all of the new highway overpasses an earthy red color. I can appreciate that lots of people think that it looks nicer than bare concrete, but for what it costs, the only thing it really buys you is the need to repaint it again in 5-10 years at an equivalent (or greater) cost. If they really wanted red overpasses, they should have done it properly and dyed the concrete red to begin with.
Disappointing (Score:3, Interesting)
Shopping carts slide into each other, so they have a natural way of connecting. Add some extra twiddles so you have four types, such that only some pairs can slide into each other and you can use the shopping carts as the nucleotides.
This sculpture is supported by a single central column (absent in DNA) but is missing the two helical backbones. It isn't so much that this is less accuate, but it is also less interesting (but undoubtedly cheaper and structurally simpler.)
Re:Dear Mr. Editor, (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, call me old fashioned, but as a paying subscriber I think I have the right to complain about the quality of the product I'm paying for.