“Train passengers take a virtual reality journey through the life of the British pop star David Bowie, which is exhibited in a ‘Virtual Bowie Coupe’ in the train from Zwolle to Groningen/Netherlands/.” The Getty Image is from The Telegraph on this sad day, 9 January 2016. After the virtual journey in the train compartment, the passengers can visit a new exhibition about David Bowie in the Groninger Museum, curated by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London; details from the museum are here.

RTV Oost [translated via Google] has more details, three other images, and a 1:32 minute video and 4:15 radio report (in Dutch).

The image below and a 1:53 minute video with excerpts of the virtual reality content can be found on the deStentor website.

If you have information or comments about this or future Presence Pictures, please share them with our community by using the appropriate ‘comments’ link (note: WordPress spam filters are said to be overly aggressive, so if you don’t receive confirmation of receipt after you post, please notify us at ispr@ispr.info… read more. “Presence Picture #12: ‘Virtual Bowie Coupe’ on train to exhibit in Grongen, Netherlands”

During the opening monologue on his Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Friday December 18, the host ‘warmed’ his hands using the ‘heat’ from an on-set hearth and fire.

Here’s wishing all members of the ISPR/Presence community a joyous holiday season…

–Matthew Lombard

[By the way, join our ISPR Members Facebook group for more unusual and interesting presence items; details are here.

If you have information or comments about this or future Presence Pictures, please share them with our community by using the appropriate ‘comments’ link (note: WordPress spam filters are said to be overly aggressive, so if you don’t receive confirmation of receipt after you post, please notify us at ispr@ispr.info).]… read more. “Presence Picture #11: Stephen Colbert warms hands with virtual fire”

Photographer Erik Johansson introduces himself on his web site with this: “I’m a photographer and retoucher from Sweden. I use photography as a way of collecting material to realize the ideas in my mind.” A larger version of this piece, titled “The Cover up,” is available here, and much more mind-bending presence-related work (including video material) is available on his site.

By the way, join our ISPR Members Facebook group for more unusual and interesting presence items; details are here.

If you have information or comments about this or future Presence Pictures, please share them with our community by using the appropriate ‘comments’ link (note: WordPress spam filters are said to be overly aggressive, so if you don’t receive confirmation of receipt after you post, please notify us at ispr@ispr.info).

–Matthew Lombard… read more. “Presence Picture #10: “The Cover up” by Erik Johansson”

Happy Halloween! This “monstrous and very unique sculpture” appeared in Budapest’s Széchenyi Square earlier this month. The polystyrene outdoor art work is titled “Feltépve” (“Ripped up”) and is by “polihysteric art designer” Ervin Loránth Hervé. It was created in affiliation with Art Market Budapest.

More information and pictures are available from Earth Porn.

By the way, join our ISPR Members Facebook group for more unusual and interesting presence items; details are here.

If you have information or comments about this or future Presence Pictures, please share them with our community by using the appropriate ‘comments’ link (note: WordPress spam filters are said to be overly aggressive, so if you don’t receive confirmation of receipt after you post, please notify us at ispr@ispr.info).

–Matthew Lombard… read more. “Presence Picture #9: A giant crawls out from the ground in Budapest”

This is a drawing and photo of Rent-a-Dog, an arcade simulator attraction by artist, engineer and The Secret Life of Machines star Tim Hunkin for Under the Pier, his “mad arcade of home-made machines & simulator rides on Southwold Pier, Suffolk, UK.” You can read a detailed description of the origins and creation of Rent-a-Dog on his web site here.

If you have information or comments about this or future Presence Pictures, please share them with our community by using the appropriate ‘comments’ link (note: WordPress spam filters are said to be overly aggressive, so if you don’t receive confirmation of receipt after you post, please notify us at ispr@ispr.info).

–Matthew Lombard… read more. “Presence Picture #8: Tim Hunkin’s Rent-a-Dog”

A touching example of social presence after the loss of Nelson Mandela in a photo by Christopher Furlong from Getty Images. The caption:

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – DECEMBER 09: A young South African girl named Malika is lifted by her mother to kiss a statue of former South African President Nelson Mandela before a service conducted by Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the Nelson Mandela Foundation on December 9, 2013 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mandela, also known as Madiba, passed away on the evening of December 5, 2013 at his home in Houghton at the age of 95. Mandela became South Africa’s first black president in 1994 after spending 27 years in jail for his activism against apartheid in a racially-divided South Africa.

If you have information or comments about this or future Presence Pictures, please share them with our community by using the appropriate ‘comments’ link (note: WordPress spam filters are said to be overly aggressive, so if you don’t receive confirmation of receipt after you post, please notify us at ispr@ispr.info… read more. “Presence Picture #7: Girl kisses Nelson Mandela statue”

A self portrait by photographer Laura Williams. More information is available in the blog post here.

Thanks to our colleague Alexander Voiskounsky for finding this.

If you have information or comments about this or future Presence Pictures, please share them with our community by using the appropriate ‘comments’ link (note: WordPress spam filters are said to be overly aggressive, so if you don’t receive confirmation of receipt after you post, please notify us at ispr@ispr.info).

–Matthew Lombard… read more. “Presence Picture #6: ‘Invisible’ by Laura Williams”

This is my friend and colleague Melissa Meade, interacting with a sculpture that recreates the painting Le déjeuner des canotiers (Luncheon of the Boating Party) by French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The sculpture is at Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, New Jersey, USA.

Here is a picture of the original painting:

For pictures of some of the other sculptures, see the Miss Buttercup blog, where the author writes, “There were moments when I forgot I was in a sculpture garden because it felt like I was in a painting.”

For more on the painting, see the web site of the Fournaise Museum.

If you have information or comments about this or future Presence Pictures, please share them with our community by using the appropriate ‘comments’ link (note: WordPress spam filters are said to be overly aggressive, so if you don’t receive confirmation of receipt after you post, please notify us at ispr@ispr.info… read more. “Presence Picture #5: Grounds for Sculpture brings Renoir painting to life”

Yuanyang II (also known as ‘Coffee Kiss”)

by Hong Kong artist Johnson TSANG Cheung Shing

Stoneware, porcelain, hollowing, modelling, slabbing and throwing
L 118cm W 45cm H 24cm
2002

More information about and images of this sculpture and others by the artist is available here.

If you have information or comments about this or future Presence Pictures, please share them with our community by using the appropriate ‘comments’ link (note: WordPress spam filters are said to be overly aggressive, so if you don’t receive confirmation of receipt after you post, please notify us at ispr@ispr.info).

–Matthew Lombard… read more. “Presence Picture #4: ‘Coffee Kiss’ sculpture by Johnson TSANG Cheung Shing”