Roadside distraction

Russian commuters may have gotten more than they expected on their way to work last week. Drivers in downtown Moscow were greeted by a different sort of advertising than they were used to, as an electronic highway billboard was seen displaying a pornographic video instead of its regularly programmed advertising, reported The Associated Press. The two-minute clip, depicting an unnamed couple’s explicit escapades, blazed across the 9-by-6-metre screen, slowing traffic on one of the Russian capital’s busiest roads. Many people gathered to take pictures, while others like Alyona Prokulatova, were too offended to even do so.

“[I was] so shocked that I couldn’t even shoot video or take a picture of it,” Prokulatova said.

Owners of the billboard believe hackers are to blame for the surprising interference. Police are investigating the incident, but no suspects have been named thus far.

Blending in

Often an artist’s work embodies parts of the artist himself, but for Liu Bolin, the opposite is in fact true. Bolin, an artist based in Shandong, China, has begun to surround himself with his work in a very literal sense, reported the Telegraph. The 35-year-old has begun to camouflage himself in any and all of his many surroundings, with the intention of blending in completely and not being noticed at all. The talented artist will spend up to ten hours at a time on a single photo, painting himself accordingly in order to achieve his own form of invisibility. Bolin says his art is a protest against the actions of the Chinese government, and about not fitting into modern society. The government shut down his studio in 2005.

Check out his gallery at http://tinyurl.com/nc8c6s.

Tilt-a-kitchen

An art exhibit intends to flip the Western home cooking experience on its ear, or ceiling. Zeger Reyers, a contemporary artist originally from Holland, has wowed the world’s art critics with his latest piece, The Rotating Kitchen, reported eatmedaily.com. The installation, which is in fact a kitchen that rotates, letting its various objects, utensils and even food move around, has been in continuous rotation since the exhibit opened last fall. It is part of the program “Eating the Universe: Food in Art,” currently running at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf in Germany. The statement Reyers is trying to make is unclear, but if you find yourself in the area, the kitchen will be rotating until the exhibit closes Sunday, Feb. 28.

Check out the video at http://tinyurl.com/rotatingkitchen.

Volunteer exhibition

A British television channel is looking for its mummy. Channel 4 has recently become embroiled in controversy, after sending out a casting call for terminally-ill volunteers who would be willing to have themselves mummified for an upcoming documentary, reported the Daily Mail. The advert reads: “We are currently keen to talk to someone who, faced with the knowledge of their own terminal illness and all that it entails, would nonetheless consider undergoing the process of an ancient Egyptian embalming.” The 6,000-year-old procedure would be carried out on television by controversial German anatomist Dr. Gunther von Hagens, who would also participate in the subject’s on-screen assisted suicide. But there’s an upside; the body of the lucky candidate could be displayed in a museum. Von Hagens made headlines eight years ago when he cut up the body of a 72-year-old former chain-smoking German alcoholic in front of a theatre audience of 500 people. The advert for submissions has surprisingly only resulted in 130 complaints to the network.