The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Belgian company unveils Top Gun flight simulator Posted: 13 Oct 2011 11:14 PM PDT  Matthys, in the fully immersive 360-degree flight simulator, explains how it all works. — Reuters pic The dome is the first flight simulator to give trainee pilots a full unobstructed 360-degree view of the world as they conduct virtual missions, says Barco, a maker of high-definition projectors and displays. "It's not an improvement, it's a new generation of simulators," Geert Matthys, research and development manager at the company, said. "If a pilot has a cockpit where he can see 360 degrees, he also needs to be trained in a system which supplies 360 degrees; all deviation from real life can be dangerous," said Matthys. The simulator can be used in a series, with several pilots working together to play out complex training missions such as mid-air refuelling. "For the first application there will be eight systems positioned next to each other and they will do mission training with each other," said project manager Kathy Verledens. It can also train up pilots for solo sorties. The development team has taken since 2009 to get the device just right.  What the acrylic sphere looks like from the outside. — Reuters pic The dome, which can be used to train pilots to use a variety of fast fighter jets, was first sold to Elbit Systems, which is installing it with its customer, the Israeli Air Force. The system should be fully operational in 2012. Barco engineers use lasers to line up the 10-megapixel projectors so that the different projected images are perfectly aligned. One of the main technical challenges was to replicate the exact contrast that a pilot sees, stopping the brightness of the image throwing too much light onto the darker areas. "In general use you have 50 per cent of your dome filled with white, but in a dome all this white reaches other parts of the dome where you have black, so it's acting as ambient light," said Matthys. "We take care of the reflections in such a way that the system contrast is kept to a high level and this, in combination with high resolution and high brightness over 360 degrees, is a breakthrough in the industry." — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Peering into the art market’s parallel universe Posted: 13 Oct 2011 09:15 PM PDT  Paul Chaves, a visitor to the Frieze Art Fair, takes a picture of himself in front of Gerhard Richter's "Strip". — Reuters pic Impeccably dressed men and women, and a healthy smattering of Bohemian types in garish trousers and expensive, thick-rimmed glasses, saunter down the aisles and between the stands of more than 170 exhibiting galleries. There the "new aristocracy" browses the cutting edge of contemporary art, from a grotesque "Madonna and Child" by the Chapman Brothers to a golf bag full of cement and a section of wooden fence hanging on a wall. Elle Macpherson and designer Valentino joined commercial gallery A-listers such as Jay Jopling in assessing what was hot and what was not at a VIP preview this week. The fair opened to the public yesterday and runs until Sunday. Prices range widely, but generally works on show go for between five and seven figures, the sort of money most people spend on their house, often by way of a 25-year mortgage. Not so at Frieze, which has become a magnet for the world's biggest collectors of contemporary art, who think little of writing a cheque for a few hundred thousand dollars or more. The disconnect with the world outside — where markets are jittery and volatile, people fret over their jobs and countries are weighed down by crippling debt — is striking. Whether that disparity can last is the question on every gallery owner's lips. While there will always be ultra-wealthy buyers snapping up the rarest and finest works, supporting the million-plus market, there are concerns that "lesser" art will fail to sell.  A giant hermit crab carries its home, a replica of Brancusi's "Sleeping Muse", in Pierre Huyghe's "Recollection", which was commissioned for the Frieze Art Fair. — Reuters pic Market surveys suggest confidence in all but the top lots — viewed as an alternative investment at a time when so many markets look risky — is evaporating fast, raising the prospect of another correction. Mixed signals At Frieze, David Zwirner sold a Neo Rauch painting for US$1.35 million (RM4.2 million), and the overall value of art on show is estimated at around US$350 million, down from US$375 million in 2010. At the nearby Pavilion of Art & Design, an offshoot of Frieze featuring mainly older works, the Van de Weghe Fine Art gallery sold an Alexander Calder for US$1.5 million and Sladmore Gallery raised £500,000 (RM2.5 million) for a cast bronze by Rodin. But not all the signs are good. While fairs do not publicise their revenues, and most dealers keep their business to themselves, auction houses also hold a series of sales during Frieze week that give some indication as to the strength of prices. Sotheby's had its main auction yesterday evening followed by Christie's today, but Phillips de Pury held its big sale on Wednesday and the results were described by one specialist art website as "tepid". The auction tally of £8.2 million fell comfortably short of the pre-sale low estimate of £10.1 million (and high estimate of £14.6 million), and a third of the works on offer failed to sell. Jeff Koons' "Seal Walrus Trashcans" fetched £2.1 million, at the bottom end of expectations, and Damien Hirst and Richard Prince were among the familiar names featuring in the top 10. "The sale showed there is still an appetite for good-quality works from blue-chip artists," said Peter Sumner, head of contemporary sales, London Phillips de Pury & Company. Of course, many artists dismiss talk of markets and prices. In most cases they stand to gain little even if their works sell for millions at auction, and money, they argue, is not the point. Some, however, actively engage in the concept of art as a commodity. The artistic partnership called Claire Fontaine has a work at Frieze that reads: "This neon sign was made by Vladimir Ustinov for the remuneration of one hundred and sixty-nine thousand rubles." For those less confident in their economic future, artist Michael Landy may have the answer with his outlandish "Credit Card Destroying Machine". — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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