by Grace Ebert | Apr 14, 2024
In Persuasions, artist Edie Fake turns their attention to the wise, enduring insights of plants. The new series of acrylic and gouache paintings expands Fake’s bold visual language to incorporate flowers, which they render amidst the kaleidoscopic geometries they’re known for. Evocative of architecture and mechanics, the colorful graphic works veer into the spiritual, melding the myriad systems that order our lives.
Fake often begins with a meticulous sketch in graphite. More
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Kaleidoscopic Paintings by Edie Fake Invoke the Spiritual Wisdom of Plants appeared first on Colossal.
by Kate Mothes | Apr 14, 2024
Although trained in traditional painting techniques, Dutch artist Joris Kuipers isn’t satisfied with the constraints of a rectangular frame or pieces that sit stationary on the wall. His undulating, cloud-like installations appear to float and flutter as if a clump of giant, colorful autumn leaves have been tossed upwards and frozen in mid-air.
In his ongoing series Jardin Suspendus and In Bloom, Kuipers invokes the atmosphere of gardens. Floral-like shapes overlap, swell, and skitter in site-specific installations, whether hanging from the ceiling or flaring up from pedestals. More
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article In Billowing Sculptures, Joris Kuipers Suspends Cloud-Like ‘Gardens’ from the Ceiling appeared first on Colossal.
by Komoneed | Apr 14, 2024
With more and more electrified rivals arriving, Toyota has given its hybrid-only Yaris a facelift. We put it up against Renault’s class-leading Clio.
by Komoneed | Apr 12, 2024
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued the first-ever nationwide, legally enforceable limits on harmful per- polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — known as “forever chemicals” — in drinking water. The rule is the biggest leap so far in EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap and will lower exposure to the toxic substances for roughly 100 million […]
The post EPA Announces First-Ever Rule Limiting PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Drinking Water appeared first on EcoWatch.
by Komoneed | Apr 12, 2024
Curtin University has received a $5 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to take on the challenge of producing and transporting hydrogen in a sustainable and cost-effective way.
While hydrogen has long been identified as a clean energy source, there are difficulties in transporting it affordably and practically.
One established method is using sodium borohydride powder as a carrier for the hydrogen, but the by-product left behind — sodium metaborate — has always been expensive to recycle.
The Kotai Hydrogen Project has been set up to trial a new method of hydrogen production and transportation being developed by Curtin’s Hydrogen Storage Research Group (HSRG) in partnership with Velox Energy Materials.
The HSRG’s award-winning chemical process and catalyst has the potential to quickly and cheaply revert sodium metaborate back to sodium borohydride, enabling it to be reused to transport hydrogen.
“The lower costs attached to this method’s production and transport could make it potentially the cheapest means of exporting hydrogen from Australia,” said John Curtin Distinguished Professor Craig Buckley, head of the HSRG.
“This method could play a part in meeting the rapidly rising global demand for Australian hydrogen.”
Buckley added that the Kotai Hydrogen Project could be a significant step towards zero net emissions.
“Our aim is to provide a circular hydrogen export value chain,” he said. “The initial research component of the project will feed into the commercial stage, where a pilot facility will be designed and built in Perth to evaluate the technology for large-scale production directly from renewable electricity.”
Curtin Institute for Energy Transition Director Professor Peta Ashworth said the project was important on a global scale.
“The whole world has been working to reduce the end-to-end costs of clean hydrogen,” Ashworth said.
“Having been involved in the early development of Australia’s Hydrogen Strategy, it is fantastic to see Australia playing a significant part in delivering on that aspiration through this funded Curtin research.”
Curtin and Velox Energy Materials will also contribute an additional combined cash commitment towards the overall project.
ARENA Chief Executive Officer Darren Miller said that through its strategic priorities, ARENA had highlighted the importance of renewable hydrogen and low-emissions metals as a potentially significant export industry.
“Innovation starts in the lab and we have the best minds taking our decarbonisation efforts to the next level — to the benefit of all Australians through jobs, lower emissions and cheaper energy,” he said.
Image credit: iStock.com/Scharfsinn86
