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Here’s a cool idea realized: a Sydney, Australia-based art collective called The Glue Society has re-created scenes from the Bible as if captured by Google Earth’s ubiquitous satellites. Says Glue Society’s James Dive: “We like to disorientate audiences a little with all our work. And with this piece we felt technology now allows events which may or may not have happened to be visualized and made to appear dramatically real. As a method of representation satellite photography is so trusted, it has been interesting to mess with that trust.” Let’s see what they created!
Parting of the Red Sea
Noah and That Large Boat of His
It looks like he and those crazy animals have just come to rest on a mountaintop.
The Garden of Eden
Looks pretty darn pleasant, actually. (The birds were a nice touch.) Can you spot the happy couple?
The Crucifixion
Any events — fictional, Biblical or otherwise — you’d like to see from a Google-eye view?
Comments (42)
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Wow, the crucifixion is eerie.
Dinosaurs, I would LOVE to see dinosaurs.
Any scene from the Colossem.
Ancient Wonders that are no longer around:
1.Hanging Gardens of Babylon
2.Statue of Zues at Olympus
3.Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus
4.Colossus of Rhodes
5.Lighthouse of Alexandria
Eruption of Pompeii
PANGEA!!!
posted by Jessica on 1-29-2008 at 8:13 am
These images are quite striking! Rather than being “disorientating”, they feel oddly familiar.
I’m not a religious person now, but I grew up reading these bible stories, and I remember wondering just how the parting of the Red Sea would look from above.
I like the mix of ancient stories and modern media perspective. This is a very creative project.
posted by Stephanie on 1-29-2008 at 8:18 am
Atlantis sinking
Battle of Troy
Alexander crossing the Alps
Battle of Hastings
Stonehenge during construction
posted by Lisa on 1-29-2008 at 8:25 am
A Google Earth movie of Pangea splitting apart and turning into the continents (and then the projected path they’ll take running into one another again in the future) would be awesome. That’d probably be an immense project, though.
posted by Sandy on 1-29-2008 at 8:28 am
I don’t know, but that is cool stuff.
posted by mrs.djs on 1-29-2008 at 8:29 am
Only problem is… there were many more people standing and watching The Crucifixion.
posted by Chris M. on 1-29-2008 at 9:25 am
Are Adam and Eve on right hand side about half way down ?
Cool stuff !
Walls of Jerhico ?
David and Goliath ?
Sodom and Gomorrah ?
posted by Fred on 1-29-2008 at 9:28 am
Wouldn’t you think that there would be more people present at the crucifixtion? I mean, scripture denotes that there was a pretty good crowd there.
Those are some pretty good suggestions up there, as well. (Esp. Atlantis sinking. XD)
If we’re going back to biblical examples, how about the construction of the tower of babel? or the hebrew children being led across the desert by a pillar of fire? the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah? The construction of the Jewish temple? Plenty of untapped artistic potential :D
posted by Ashley on 1-29-2008 at 9:28 am
These are so cool.. Next project should definately be the Ancient Wonders…
posted by GTT on 1-29-2008 at 9:37 am
I love the Atlantis idea, but I’d also like to see the D-Day landings on Normandy, Battle of the Somme, and the battle of Marathon
posted by Kyle on 1-29-2008 at 9:41 am
Hehe love the ancient wonders idea!
I was also going to suggest Some stuff from WW1 and WW2.
But how about some geeky stuff done in the style of google earth, like Lukes run on the death star or a Night of the living dead style convergence of zombies on a lone house hold?
posted by Dan on 1-29-2008 at 9:47 am
I feel like the Crucifixion should have had a bigger crowd around it. The deserted landscape is nicely scary, though. Eerie, as Jessica says.
Am I the only one whose first thought is- “can I have a Google map of Godzilla stomping Tokyo?” It’s not history or religion, or even real art but… wow, that would be cool!
posted by E on 1-29-2008 at 9:50 am
jessica! you have some great ideas!!! as i read each one, i thought “ooh…but what about..?” and it was the next on your list!
posted by lainey on 1-29-2008 at 9:55 am
I’d like to see some fictional renderings . . . I’m not a huge Terry Pratchett fan, but seeing Ankh-Morpork or even the whole disc would be awesome. Or how about some Middle Earth for the Tolkien fans? Oz or Dynotopia. Anything of LeGuin’s.
I liked some of the earlier suggestions: Atlantis, the ancient civilizations, the 7 Wonders, Pangea.
Imagine, the whole world–past, present, and imagined–at your fingertips . . .
posted by nutmeag on 1-29-2008 at 10:04 am
If we’re going all out, how about Never-Never land?!?! My brother was just in a production of Peter-Pan at the Walnut St Theatre in Philly (shameless, I know, but I’m so proud of him!) and seeing the different parts would be total radness.
Oh oh, Labrynth!
Or Fantasia from the Neverending Story, especially the progress of the Nothing!
Eeeeeeee, I’m not going to get any work done today!
posted by Jessica on 1-29-2008 at 10:41 am
Middle Earth
Both from the Lord of the Rings and from the Silmarillion.
posted by eroe777 on 1-29-2008 at 10:53 am
How about Sodom and Gommorah after Lot’s wife was transformed? Heh.
posted by Kate on 1-29-2008 at 10:53 am
How about the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius/city of Pompeii?
The bombing of Hiroshima/Nagasaki? (not to be morbid but we must remember so we do not repeat)
posted by JaneM on 1-29-2008 at 10:58 am
BTW – Great post!!
posted by JaneM on 1-29-2008 at 11:09 am
@fred: adam and eve are top center, laying on a small green clear area
posted by tami on 1-29-2008 at 11:13 am
Any of the Great Mayan/Aztec civilizations at their hieght would be awesome, or the explosion of Krakatoa. Dan I love the idea of the Night of the Living Dead.
posted by grat on 1-29-2008 at 11:32 am
Why would they want to disorientate people, when they could just disorient them?
posted by Miss Cellania on 1-29-2008 at 11:44 am
If you look at the tree in the center and then look to your right you’ll see Adam and Eve laying on the grass. These pictures are awesome!
posted by Melinda on 1-29-2008 at 1:35 pm
Hiroshima anyone?
posted by Jay on 1-29-2008 at 2:11 pm
frodo and golem on MOUNT DOOM !!!!!!!!!!
posted by qawsee on 1-29-2008 at 2:44 pm
The planting of the flag at Iwo Jima.
posted by Tommy on 1-29-2008 at 3:36 pm
Paul Bunyon and Babe the blue ox making the Great Lakes in North America.
Machu Picchu populated.
Easter Island (Rapa Nui) tribesmen setting up a stone face.
European slave traders abducting indigenous people in Africa during the early 18th century.
The protests and resulting massacre at Tian’anmen Square(China) in 1989.
etc.
posted by p0ntus on 1-29-2008 at 3:44 pm
This is a very creative project, although it will become more interesting if it opens up to other cultures and myths and not close itself to a bible-centric context.
posted by bishop on 1-29-2008 at 4:19 pm
Why not giant household applience?
I think a birds-eye view of a giant blender or vacuum cleaner would be the beez-kneez. Who’s says appliences don’t have a biblical quality?
posted by Nathumus Maximus on 1-29-2008 at 4:31 pm
Xerxes crossing the Bosphorus.
The Battle of Thermopylae.
posted by Paul on 1-29-2008 at 4:42 pm
how about Napoleon’s battle of nations, the sea battle at trafalgar, or MLK’s march on Washington DC
posted by jdmoney on 1-29-2008 at 6:47 pm
Really neat idea. This would be fun to mess around with.
The battle of Gettysburg.
JFK assignation
The Donner Party
James Dean crash
1 second after the Enola Gay dropped the Bomb, i.e. plane flying away and bomb seen in mid-air.
Gandhi’s march to the sea.
Biblical: Moses reading the 10 commandments, Jesus carrying his cross to Golgatha
posted by Skevimc on 1-29-2008 at 7:07 pm
Samson toppling the arena.
The Great Pyramid mid-construction.
Mongol hordes attaching the Great Wall.
The Lighthouse at Alexandria. (It was Alexandria, wasn’t it?)
posted by Denise on 1-29-2008 at 9:46 pm
How about showing the moment of impact for the asteroid that caused the mass extinction of the dinosaurs?
posted by chet on 1-29-2008 at 10:54 pm
The Big Bang?
posted by Arche on 1-30-2008 at 8:57 am
I agree it would be so cool to see a battle for Middle Earth, or any scene from Lord of the Rings.
posted by teachymom on 1-30-2008 at 11:20 am
The Battle of Hogwarts
The first crossing of the Atlantic by Columbus
Ankh-Morpork
Rivendel
Arrakis
posted by hannah on 1-30-2008 at 12:06 pm
The Oklahoma Land run.
posted by Jerry on 1-30-2008 at 4:21 pm
The D-Day landings aren’t fictional, and if you google, you can find photos taken mid-landing,from the recon planes overhead. About the only thing you could add with photoshop is colorising them
posted by magic on 1-30-2008 at 5:41 pm
The oddity about the cruxifiction is that the crosses cast shadows as if the sun were overhead and the spectators have much longer shadows.
posted by FDF on 1-30-2008 at 8:18 pm
How about …
the Titanic hitting an iceberg or else sinking, surrounded by lifeboats (altho that happened in the evening)
the Bataan Death March in the Philippines
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay at the summit of Mt. Everest
the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk
the Trojan Horse being pulled into the city of Troy
the chariot race in Ben Hur
About the crucifixion, it’s actually the shadows that are long. Remember that these images were “taken” from overhead. So this might be already late in the afternoon when most of the people had left–which might explain why there isn’t a crowd.
posted by kybrdgal on 2-9-2008 at 11:17 am
These are great … as to the number of people at the crucifixion, that depends on the time of day and this shows some rather long shadows suggesting late afternoon getting close to sundown. The Jewish crowds would certainly have left by this time of day so that they could be home for the beginning of Shabbat at sundown, and Scripture doesn’t record too many Romans hanging around. I think it’s an effective rendering.
posted by Father E on 2-26-2008 at 2:15 pm