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In this week’s Our Take, we look at delinquent killer whales. Are they just misunderstood? In a world of AI-generated art, is reality still stranger than fiction? We investigate. And AR meets jewellery! It’s a shame you’ll never get to wear it. Read on…
Orcas Just Wanna Have Fun
Not everyone’s having a whale of a time. Especially not those on board one of the vessels recently ambushed by a group of killer whales.
Whale-on-human violence has become so frequent in the past year that it’s been dubbed “orcanised crime”. So what gives? One guess is that it began when a female orca named White Gladis was injured by a boat propeller. Whales are a matriarchal society meaning they stan a strong female lead, so it’s possible that when she retaliated, she rallied the troops against such vessels.
While marine biologists have deemed this theory plausible, it’s also possible that it’s literally just the latest fad in orca culture. Whales are trendy creatures you see. It’s well documented that back in 1987, when one particular orca it-gal began wearing a salmon headpiece (and we mean a literal dead salmon on her head), she inspired other whales to copy her, and for a while there were two pods of orcas swimming around the Pacific with fish on their heads. 80’s fashion was out there.
Some astrologers feel something more sinister is going on given how in-tune whales are to the ocean. Others feel like these are a group of climate-justice activist whales who are pretty p*ssed at us, and tbh that’s fair enough. However the most common theory among those really in the know (aka actual marine experts), is that they’re just having fun.
STRANGER THAN AI
With all the hype of AR-generated images, it’s good to be reminded that nature can be stranger than fiction.
A gorgeous new campaign by Nikon, called “Natural Intelligence” showcases breath-taking photos of some of the most surreal, real places on earth, and accompanies them with the sort of prompts that people might use to generate a similar image in AI.
With this campaign, Nikon commits to photographers and their art –capturing real moments, real places, real life.
The campaign, by Circus Grey Peru, has earned 99% positive sentiment but the real goal, according to Nikon, is to inspire people to not give up on the real world.
AR-t Accessories
Artist Piper Zy has gone viral – again – with her incredible Augmented Reality jewellery. She released images of rings that make fingers invisble, or that like an x-ray reveal the bones in your hand! She’s created a collection of mind-boggling AR accessories and the only flaw is that they aren’t available to buy.
While this makes us wonder what’s the difference between old-fashioned video FX and AR that you can’t get your hands on (or get on your hands), there’s no doubt that she knows how to create a buzz. Her creations have caught the attention of big names such as Dazed, Elle, Samsung, Doc Martens, Screenshot Media, Coachella, NFT, Meta Spark, and Lenslist, among others.
Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow
Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow – a firm message from Fleetwood Mac and the folks at Greenpeace, whose newest film features a reimagined version of the song.
Greenpeace describes it as ‘no ordinary cover: Don’t Stop shines a light on the fight of our lives – to save our planet from climate breakdown.’ In the past few years, the planet has begun to experience the effects of climate change. We’ve seen floods, fires, typhoons and loss of life at a rapidly increasing rate but record profits at oil and gas companies.
The film is set to be front and centre at this week’s Glastonbury festival and features an incredible mix of creative talent – from Grammy-winning producer Fraser T Smith to Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen and is well worth a watch!