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--- concept_car_notes [2016-06-26 12:37] – theunkarelse
+++ concept_car_notes [2016-06-26 13:16] – theunkarelse
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 **Working title**: Big Mammoth? (as pun on Boston Dynamics’ Big Dog)
-Theun Karelse - June, Juli 2016
-**Topic**: Designing a concept car as a case-study to expand upon the line of thought emerging from the [[http://machinewilderness.net/|Machine Wilderness]] programme.
+**Topic**: An in depth exploration of how machines relate to landscapes. A prototyping experiment centered on the forecasting phenomenon known as the concept car.
-**Outline**: An in depth exploration of machine wilderness design strategies and issues.
+**Outcome**: a printed publication in the Handbook series by [[http://cargocollective.com/bergenconvention/Verlag-fur-Handbucher|Verlag für Handbücher]] VfH
-A thought experiment centered around the concept car phenomenon which is well established in the history of prototyping.
-A car - like an organism - is an expression of its habitat. When making a visual survey of concept-car-art it is striking to see how they populate asphalt desert landscapes. Perhaps unwittingly these are statements about the relationship between cars and their environment. This relationship is studied by ecologists, poets and artists. This prototype therefore starts from a transdisciplinary approach, not in the context of a desert, but a biodiverse European landscape and within a longterm view of interacting populations surfing collectively on the geological and environmental currents that carry them.
+====Outline:====
+A car - like an organism - is an expression of its habitat. When making a visual survey of concept-car-art it is striking to see how often they show machines populating asphalt desert landscapes. Perhaps unwittingly these are statements about the future relationships between cars and their environment. How we relate to landscapes is studied by ecologists, poets, artists, farmers, cooks, etc. This prototype therefore starts from a transdisciplinary approach, not in the context of a desert, but a biodiverse European landscape and within a longterm view of interacting populations surfing collectively on the geological and environmental currents that carry them.
-As a starting point I propose looking at former mega-fauna of the European continent, whose ecological niches may be vacant. The Mammoth might be an interesting model-organism because of its carrying capacity and range.
+As a starting point I propose looking at former mega-fauna of the European continent, whose ecological niches may be vacant. The Mammoth might be an interesting model-organism because of its carrying capacity and range. And because of the rather charming history of [[http://cyberneticzoo.com/mechanical-elephants-horses-and-other-walking-animals/|mechanical elephants]] in engineering.
-**Outcome**: a printed publication in the Handbook series by [[http://cargocollective.com/bergenconvention/Verlag-fur-Handbucher|Verlag für Handbücher]] VfH
-===Starting ideas:===
+====Starting ideas:====
-Applying phenology to product design: from efficiency towards grace
+Applying phenology to product design: //from efficiency towards grace//
   * elephant phenology: 80km/day radius, 200kg/day foraging, [[https://elephantconservation.org/sample-press-release-1/|elephant zoochory]], breaking forest-cover, browsing, grazing
   * complex life history? infant (growth) and mature (dispersal) states?
@@ Line 23: / Line 20: @@
   * techno[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seed_dispersal#By_animals|zoochory]]? machine as carrier/dispersor of seeds
-Extending communication / navigation from systems to organisms / landscapes: towards a rich spectrum of biological/environmental interactions
+Extending communication / navigation from systems to organisms / landscapes: //towards a rich spectrum of biological/environmental interactions//
   * elephant low frequency communication?
   * interpretation of signalling by species in the landscape?
@@ Line 30: / Line 27: @@
   * from quantitative navigation towards qualitative navigation? (from GPS to songlines)
-Embedded energy cycles: towards local energy regimes
+Embedded energy cycles: //towards local energy regimes//
   * elephant grazing: 200 kg/day plant matter, inefficiently digested; excrement is a nutrient source for others, seeds still intact..
   * trophic interactions and ecological energetics (harvesting / feeding the landscape)
@@ Line 47: / Line 44: @@
   * large stomach
   * pressure elephant's foot on soil 27.000 Pa (human 23.000 Pa)
+====Notes:====
+on elephants in Europe:
+  * [[http://nautil.us/issue/101/in-our-nature/the-natural-world-is-an-elephant-world|The Natural World Is an Elephant World]] article Nautilus
+  * [[http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160527-the-zoo-that-wants-to-release-wild-elephants-in-denmark?ocid=twert|The Zoo That Wants To Release Wild Elephants in Denmark]] article BBC
+  * [[https://youtu.be/eRPNS5SwdRY|Dick ‘Sir Mammoth’ Mol]] interview in Dutch
+on concept cars:
+  * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_car|concept cars]] wikipedia
+  * BMW [[http://www.next100.bmw/en/index.html|The Next 100]] prototype, is perhaps a good example of an asphalt desert future