Peter Murphy's Panoramic VR Weblog

Monday, March 31, 2003

A scene from Sydney Aquarium this morning  --  panorama  -- a place I'd never visited even though, according to its website, it is "Australia's No.1 tourist destination".  It was pretty cool really, especially the platypus display and the other tanks illustrating Australian river life. The walkthrough underwater tunnel shown in the panorama was an unusual surround environment -- the water and the concave glass surface of the tunnel formed a giant negative lens causing strange minifications of the tank contents. It would be interesting to see what a full surround -- underwater dome -- environment would look like. 2:45:26 PM

Sunday, March 30, 2003

Yesterday I queued up and went  on an inspection of the Italian tall ship "Amerigo Vespucci" which is currently moored in Sydney Cove ... panorama ... it was apparently problematic whether tours would be allowed given the security climate here but they went ahead with them. It is immaculately fitted-out  ... for details see here. "Sailors carefully carry their cigarette ash to ornate brass ashtrays in the shape of the prow of a man-o-war hung on the sides of the deckhouses." 11:45:44 AM

Thursday, March 27, 2003

There were amazing scenes in Sydney city yesterday during the second schoolchildren anti-war protest. My panorama shows a police line advancing across St Andrews Square -  next to the Town Hall -  under a barrage of soft drink bottles. Later, outside the Prime Minister's office, the protestors were trapped between two police lines for a couple of hours --  a literal containment tactic -- picture 2:35:35 PM

Sunday, March 23, 2003

I went to the Art Gallery of New South Wales on Friday for the announcements of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes. My panorama shows Tim Kyle, the winner of the Wynne prize, leaning on his "Seated figure" sculpture. 4:42:07 AM

Saturday, March 22, 2003

The official start of the war was announced on Thursday at 2.30pm Sydney time and by 5.30pm a large crowd had gathered outside the Town Hall. Panorama. Later the crowd marched down to Circular Quay without much incident except when the State Premier, Bob Carr, happened by accident through the crowd (in an official looking vehicle). The car was splattered with eggs and paint bombs (picture) but Carr continued a dialogue - via mobile phone - with a talkback radio host. ... Thinking about the Statue of Liberty I went hunting for the image of it buried in the sand at the end of Planet of the Apes and found it here -- with some other nice icons of sci-fi urban apocalypse. The compiler of this gallery has an interesting blog. There is an anti-French "Sendbackliberty" site here with some intriguing graphics. 5:32:24 AM

Wednesday, March 19, 2003

Victoria St Kings Cross was famous as a battleground for environmental issues in the 70s  -- see the Judy Davis movie "Heatwave" for a fictionalised treatment of the atmosphere here then.  In the next suburb along, in Darlinghurst, Victoria St is today the centre of cafe culture and  high rise apartment developments and real estate showrooms. Little shops like this barber shop at 235 Victoria St are becoming uncommon as local valuations skyrocket. Panorama. 1:15:59 PM

Monday, March 17, 2003

Candlelit protest at Bondi Beach this evening (Sunday) -  panorama -   a low key affair noteworthy for a passionate speech by the local mayor and the torrential storm which later came out of nowhere and brought proceedings to an abrupt halt. Actually there was also a very nice scene before the final speeches and the rain as the candle-toting demonstrators made their way along the line of the surf in the darkness  --  (reminiscent visually somewhat of the scene in Ivan the Terrible as the peasants wind across the snow to petition the Czar).  Here is my panorama of the big Sydney rally in Hyde Park a month ago. 12:17:31 AM

Saturday, March 15, 2003

Sunrise at the Opera House -  this morning -- panorama                                         9:31:31 AM

Friday, March 14, 2003

Busking with a telescope ... I came across this guy with a large reflector (10") in Oxford St at Taylor Square (a partying zone in Sydney) last night. He was doing good business showing passerbys the moon and Jupiter. He said he was normally based in Byron Bay --  the hippy-oriented folk there would be keen on urban astral gazing  one might think. Here is the panorama. 9:08:26 AM

Wednesday, March 12, 2003

Visitors to the panoramas of the Chinese performance artists might perhaps also be interested in this panorama I made last year of an installation in Sydney by famous Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. In the 60s in New York she and her teams were famous for performance/action pieces but in more recent times it is her "dots" installations that she is mostly known for.  7:58:01 PM

Tuesday, March 11, 2003

Disastrous fires in Canberra destroyed much of the Mt Stromlo Observatory there including this giant 74inch telescope - panorama.  Here also is a panoramic  stereo anaglyph version of the telescope above.  You need red/blue glasses to see this in 3D -- you can get these sorts of glasses from your local comic shop.    7:51:44 AM

Monday, March 10, 2003

The tall ship James Craig moored in Cockle Bay in Darling Harbour this morning - shortly before dawn. Here is the panorama. 3:22:01 PM

"During the opening week of the Museum of Contemporary Art's Liquid Sea exhibition, Chinese performance artist Zhu Ming holds a number of water-based performances on Sydney Harbour - floating across the water inside a giant transparent bubble."  The pic shows the performance yesterday afternoon  - shortly after the "bubble" was launched - in Farm Cove near the Opera House. Here is my panorama of him climbing into the bubble.  Last year I did a panorama of another Chinese artist in a Sydney performance -  Cang Xin at the Casula Powerhouse Gallery  -  buried up to his neck. 11:25:54 AM