Imagine a remote, forested island in the largest body of freshwater in the world. Now imagine living on that island and being a part of one of the most unique and challenging artist residencies in the world. Rabbit Island is that island, and with your help, Rabbit Island will become that residency.
The 90 acre Rabbit Island, initially a
Kickstarter project, has become a
reality. Follow the
blog or
Flickr feed from this uninhabited island-turned-artist-collective.
posted by Foci for Analysis
on Sep 21, 2011 -
45 comments
Cult books come and cult books go - that's part of what it means to be a cult book. A few keep reappearing, however. They get discovered over and over by successive waves of admirers. After the third or fourth reappearance, the suspicion begins to arise that this isn't a cult book, after all. It's a masterpiece with problems. Islandia is such a book. - Noel Perrin,
"The Best of All Imaginary Islands" [more inside]
posted by Trurl
on Jul 18, 2011 -
15 comments
On the 29th January 1942 the first ever
Desert Island Discs was broadcast. Surpassed only by the
Grand Ole Opry it is the second longest running radio show in history. Beautiful in its simplicity - each castaway is asked to choose eight pieces of music, a book and a luxury item for their imaginary stay on the desert island. For those who have not come across it before aquaint yourself with its iconic theme tune 'By the Sleepy Lagoon'
here. Then for newcomers and old hands aquaint yourself with the wonderful new
BBC website with searchable archives of 2852 episodes detailing castaways choices, and
now with more than 500 episodes available for free download.
posted by numberstation
on May 3, 2011 -
23 comments
The
pitch was
extravagent: a
man-made archipelago of 300 islands constructed to approximate the land masses of Earth, located 4 kilometers off the coast of Dubai. Claim part of The World for your own, or as an investment.
Angelina Jolie And Brad Pitt bought Ethiopia,
Tommy Lee bought Greece for ex-wife Pamela Anderson,
David Beckham and Rod Stewart were each rumored to have bought an island, joining
other celebrities who had purchased part of The World. The
environmental impact of World-creation was raised, and
Sir Richard Branson warned that the islands would be submerged in 50 years if global governments did not address climate change. The warning in 2007 did not dissuade the developers, and
the final rock was placed in the breakwater in January 2008. The end of The World has not been brought about by rising tides, but
financial woes have put the development on long-term hold, potentially ending the project.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Oct 2, 2009 -
47 comments
New Kiribati "...will future climate change refugees become a new caste of service sector workers inhabiting a sort of Floating Hotel & Duty Free Mall ... ?"
Small island states are on the front line.
posted by nthdegx
on Jun 19, 2008 -
3 comments
A mindbending logic puzzle. A thousand people on the island, 900 brown-eyed and 100 blue-eyed; anyone who learns their own eye color must kill themself the next day; a visitor mentions that there is a blue-eyed person on the island; what happens? Nothing, you say, because they already know that? Wrong. Further details at the Terry Tao post linked above, but don't scroll down below the boxed description unless you want hints and/or spoilers.
[more inside]
posted by languagehat
on Feb 15, 2008 -
390 comments
Lost Numbers. I won't get to see any of the second season of Lost until summer 2006 'cause I live in Ireland. I also didn't care enough about the first season to use the "numbers" as my lottery numbers. I should have, they (almost) came up in the National Lottery on November 19. I say almost, instead of 42 it was 24 (sorry Douglas).
posted by Elmore
on Dec 16, 2005 -
31 comments
A cyclone has essentially
flattened the tiny Pacific island nation of Niue. Although only one of the island's 1200 inhabitants has died, the infrastructure is so battered that the government may simply
call it quits, ceding control to New Zealand. Although suffering from sharp population declines over the years, Niue had been one of the most technologically advanced microstates, being the first country to
install free Wi-Fi accessible to all of its residents and visitors. And they control the top-level domain
.nu - or do they? The recent natural disaster may highlight the fact that the story of the .nu domain is one of
economic and legal exploitation. And if Niue folds, can you run a website from a domain attributed to a
deleted country? A fascinating sidebar to this fascinating story. (Via
/.)
posted by PrinceValium
on Jan 12, 2004 -
6 comments
Reflect the pain and desolate loneliness inmates felt when serving time - time in a prison surrounded by a paradise that teased them with what was forbidden.
In 1985, before I left Brazil to live in the United States, I journeyed with some friends to surf at Ilha Grande. One day, while we relaxed on a remote beach, a group of military men suddenly appeared looking for some escaped prisoners. They advised us to stay together.
Hours later, a helicopter flew over the sea with two fugitives trapped in a net that was hanging from its belly. ...At that moment, a desire was born in me to see life within the Caldron.
posted by thisisdrew
on Oct 22, 2003 -
8 comments
The massive engineering feat of Stonehenge meets the conspicuous nature of fiercely gated communities. The resulting bastard child:
The Palm, a man made island community shaped like a palm tree off of the coast of Dubai, UAE.
(warning: site entirely flash-based) (via willnot)
posted by Ufez Jones
on Jul 24, 2003 -
10 comments
Mont St. Michel on the Normandy coast of France is a 12th century gothic abbey purched at the top of a tiny fortified village built around a small mountain; what's most unique about the location is that due to the very gentle incline of the coast, the mountain is located on salt marsh flats at
low tide, but becomes an
isolated island in the sea at high tide, accessible only by a raised road (added in the 1950s). It's also one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. While there are no shortage of photos of it online,
this gallery had some of the most beautiful ones I'd ever seen. For those who can't make it to France,
here's a quick guide to recreating the experience in miniature.
warning - last link is from geocities, good for first six visitors only
posted by jonson
on Jul 21, 2003 -
28 comments
