Indianapolis Museum of Art Blog

One spring equinox a few years ago, a duo of artists called Theater of Inclusion designed and planted these trees on the IMA grounds, for one day only.

They didn’t design the accompanying clouds you see here, but what if they could have?

by Theater of Inclusion

Fellow IMA blogger Ed Bachta recently told me about a new film called Owning the Weather.  Premiering last week at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, the film tells the story of weather modification science.  The film features “seeders,” scientists who inject clouds with substances that hasten condensation, thereby making rain.  The doc also gives voice to philosophers on both sides of the debate about whether weather interventions are a handy solution to the global warming blues…or a sacrilegious crossing of the line between human and god. Read the rest of this entry »

A few weeks ago, I was doing a little research to plan a trip to Japan next year. One of the most enjoyable times to visit is in spring during hanami (flower viewing) season, when the sakura (cherry blossoms) bloom. I found a really interesting Japanese site run by Weathernews that utilizes prediction methods based on temperature trends as well as photos of budding sakura trees taken by everyday people to inform the public about the southwesterly progression of the “sakura wave.” It’s one of the most interesting uses of crowdsourcing that I’ve seen. They even have a simulator, where you can review the multiple-day, countrywide blooming event from a virtual satellite view. Judging from observations to date, it’s time for everyone in Kyushu to get out their picnic baskets.

Photo by gullevek via Flickr

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It has come to my attention that the tweets are out of the bag about the new interactive admissions map on the IMA dashboard. The map is a mashup of our admissions data using the Google Maps API and a zip code demographics resource called ZIPskinny. I thought that I would take some time today to discuss the art and science of colormap selection that went into developing this visualization.

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and use it’s energy to charge my portable devices. I have also found a way to defeat a few of the vampires that lurk in my house. No, I haven’t discovered a mystic artifact that one might find in a compendium of undead lore. What I have found are two modern gadgets to use in my quest for higher energy efficiency.

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