As we post, investigators are still looking for answers to why Air France Flight 447, on its way from Rio de Janiero to Paris, disintegrated, apparently at cruising altitude, off the coast of Brazil Sunday night, certainly killing all 228 people aboard.
In light of the disaster, Mario Freese’s ghostly “Air Lines,” above, serves as either a comfort that these tragedies don’t happen more often, or an alarm as to how likely it is that other calamities may soon follow. Just under 4 feet wide and 3 feet high, the rendering comes either in white on black, as shown, or in extremely limited-edition black on white, printed on heavyweight fine-art paper, and shipped in a mailing tube.
As Freese explains,
Air Lines is an art project showing worldwide airliner routes. Every single scheduled flight on any given day is represented by a fine line from its point of origin to its port of destination. Thereby forming a net of thousands of lines. Hubs like JFK, FRA or DXB turn into dark knots where lines meet, lesser served local services are only are a subtle hint.
This enlargement, right, of the flight network over Western Europe, gives a sense not only of the larger image’s level of detail, but of the gargantuan energies required to maintain and organize the world’s air traffic. Horrifying as this week’s catastrophe remains, and whether one believes that flying is the safest way to travel or not, one thing all can agree upon is that it could happen a lot more often.
“Air Lines,” 46.8 in. x 33.1 in., $49 postpaid.
[via visualcomplexity.com]
