New Materials New Methods, is the eighth in the Rotterdam-based V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media’s series of Blowup Readers. The (free) eBook explores the relationship between innovation, art and science, and simultaneously speculates future opportunities while scanning the past. V2_ Curator Michelle Kasprzak introduces the collection of essays’ (and a related workshop’s) origin as being partially inspired by the WWII-era inventor Geoffrey Pyke who had an...
...idea to build an aircraft carrier made of a special kind of ice [Pykrete] that he had created. This was not Pyke's only grand project, he was widely acknowledged as an eccentric but brilliant innovator who contributed to many aspects of society. The British Security Service (MI5) recently declassified a treasure trove of information about Pyke and his contributions to the Allies' efforts in WWII. British writer Henry Hemming has written a new biography of Pyke based on these recent revelations and on unlimited access to his archive.