Esoteric Creativity: Michael Paukner's Visualizations

Esoteric Creativity: Michael Paukner’s Visualizations

What 100 monkeys have to do with Atlantis, Indian yoga and Stonehenge.

One of the reasons we love data visualization and the infographic arts so much is that at their best, they can bring a level of intuitive understanding to overwhelmingly esoteric subjects. Which is why we’re head-over-heels with Austrian visualization artist Michael Paukner, who tackles the obscure and the enigmatic with creative quirk and a unique graphic style.

The Hundredth Monkey Effect: Theory, which posits that a learned behavior or idea spreads instantaneously within a group, in an almost paranormal fashion, once a critical number is reached. Click image for details.

His work is a kind of modern artistic alchemy, exploring both real phenomena and the eeriest corners of quasi-science, those fringe worldviews that have always coexisted with and challenged the dominant scientific dogmas of the time.

The Celtic Zodiac: 13-month lunar calendar dating back to around 1000 B.C., devised by Celtic priests known as Druids and constituting the ancient origins of Halloween. Click image for details.

Kundalini: Sanskrit word meaning either 'coiled up' or 'coiling like a snake.' The Kundalini movement in Indian yoga deals with 'corporeal energy' that circulates in and around the human body in an artificial electromagnetic flow. Click image for details.

Stonehenge Rebuilt: Click image for details.

Metatron's Cube: Pattern believed to have sacred geometry with religious value depicting the fundamental principles of space and time. Click image for details.

Capital City of Atlantis: Reconstruction of the mythical city based on a German plan Michael found on an obscure website. Click image for details.

See more of Michael’s work in his relentlessly fantastic Flickr stream.

via Coudal

Psst, we’ve launched a fancy weekly newsletter. It comes out on Sundays, offers the week’s articles, and features five more tasty bites of web-wide interestingness. Here’s an example. Like? Sign up.

Analog Infoviz: Hand- Painted Visualizations Ward Shelley's wonderful hand-painted visualizations in oil offer a dose of candor, humor and delightful one-point-ohness....
Books for Dad: 7 Esoteric Father’s Day Gift Ideas Film neverland, copper, maps, and how to save dad from having a midlife affair. With Father’s Day just around the corner, what better way to show dad some love than with a good book? We’re not talking your usual grilling/home-improvement/business books that are right up there with ties and bluetooth...
Infoviz Education: Animated Visualizations for Kids Excellent examples of infoviz-driven animation that aims to educate and engage the younger set....
TEDGlobal Highlights: Day 2 Optical illusions, aquatic apes, and the sweat of genius. The second day of TEDGlobal offered an endless flurry of brilliance, and we have the photos to prove it. For a full blow-by-blow verbal recap, be sure to skim our live Twitter feed — and stay tuned for more coverage tomorrow....
Meta-Vinyl Creativity We love vinyl. And we love people who channel their love for vinyl into something tremendously creative. Here are 3 such vinyl visionaries we just can't get enough of....

This entry was posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 7:26 am in art, culture, design, science and was tagged art, cool, data visualization, design, history, science.

What 100 monkeys have to do with Atlantis, Indian yoga and Stonehenge – esoteric creativity of Michael Paulkner http://tiny.cc/NKBk4

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

semblance_er on November 2nd, 2009 at 9:52 am

Study monkeys this morning: http://bit.ly/3cD1mk

dancoe13 on November 2nd, 2009 at 10:14 am

Michael Paulkner’s incredible visualizations of esoteric concepts & fringe science http://is.gd/4L6l9

brainpicker on November 2nd, 2009 at 11:02 am

Want on Tshirts: RT @brainpicker: Michael Paulkner’s incredible visualizations of esoteric concepts & fringe science http://is.gd/4L6l9

Matt_Muir on November 2nd, 2009 at 11:06 am

Me too! RT @Matt_Muir: Want on Tshirts: RT @brainpicker: Michael Paulkner’s incredible visualizations http://is.gd/4L6l9

akirathedon on November 2nd, 2009 at 11:08 am

Esoteric Creativity: Michael Paulkner’s Visualizations http://bit.ly/3cD1mk

Michaelgnovak on November 2nd, 2009 at 1:09 pm

Esoteric Creativity: Michael Paulkner’s Visualizations http://bit.ly/2R5LFz #rad

mochipark on November 2nd, 2009 at 1:26 pm

RT @brainpicker Esoteric Creativity: Michael Paulkner’s Visualizations | Brain Pickings http://ow.ly/1mB6Gs

AaronAsbury on November 2nd, 2009 at 6:17 pm

Beautiful graphics – Esoteric Creativity: Michael Paulkner’s Visualizations via the consistently great @brainpickings http://bit.ly/1OqKVA

archizoo on November 2nd, 2009 at 6:54 pm

Esoteric Creativity: Michael Paulkner’s Visualizations. http://bit.ly/4xVfuN

nicholaspatten on November 2nd, 2009 at 8:47 pm

Check out Michael Paulkner’s brilliant data visualizations – http://bit.ly/1RJT77 (via @nicholaspatten)

dennisspring on November 2nd, 2009 at 8:54 pm

RT @nicholaspatten Esoteric Creativity: Michael Paulkner’s Visualizations. http://bit.ly/4xVfuN

TheGraphicPost on November 2nd, 2009 at 9:12 pm

Rildrim on November 2nd, 2009 at 9:23 pm

beautifulpyre on November 2nd, 2009 at 9:26 pm

Esoteric creativity http://bit.ly/2gW329 #graphic #design

baronetto on November 4th, 2009 at 3:03 am

Esoteric creativity http://bit.ly/2gW329 #graphic #design http://bit.ly/2eF5RV
#DesignTalk

wFreelanceTalk on November 4th, 2009 at 3:13 am

designEcho on November 4th, 2009 at 3:18 am

designEchoLess on November 4th, 2009 at 3:28 am

RT @Matt_Muir Want on Tshirts: RT @brainpicker: Michael Paulkner’s fab visualizations: esoteric concepts & fringe science http://is.gd/4L6l9

CammiesThoughts on November 8th, 2009 at 10:49 am

Esoteric Creativity: Michael Paulkner’s Visualizations http://bit.ly/24Fg4E Pretty cool

LarisaBelliveau on November 8th, 2009 at 11:06 am

Esoteric Creativity: Michael Paulkner’s Visualizations | Brain Pickings http://ff.im/-buimu

tristanhambling on November 15th, 2009 at 5:45 am

Esoteric Creativity: Michael Paulkner’s Visualizations http://ff.im/-bvfCa

mustafaduran on November 15th, 2009 at 2:41 pm

[...] | Brain Pickings Posté en Design Graphique par bettyletourneur à 4 décembre 2009 Esoteric Creativity: Michael Paulkner’s Visualizations | Brain Pickingstags: isometrique, graphique, illustration, [...]

Esoteric Creativity: Michael Paulkner’s Visualizations | Brain Pickings « Digmoo on December 4th, 2009 at 1:19 pm