Satellite Dish Art

"QUANTUM SHOT" #227
article by Avi Abrams

Yet Another Urban Art Form?

The satellite dish, being one of the most recognizable symbols of technological progress, gets various funny and artistic treatments from creative individuals around the world. A plain vanilla white dish seems to be just as offensive to the senses as the dumb beige of the standard PC hardware. No wonder people bring out the colors and make that "telecommunication flower" bloom all over the place.

Whole city blocks seem to have joined the "psychedelic dish" movement:

Happy Satellite Dish - an obvious idea?

(image credit: Mads Gildberg)

Some of the more standard designs you can order from this site. You can also apply various stickers, found on this site:

Another painted face, found in the neighborhood:

(image credit: opus)

Dishes, hand-painted by artist Julien Celdran:

(image credit: Julien Celdran)

Pierre Marcel's TV snail design:

Strictly for the Soviet's amusement:

"A CIA tracking station during the Cold War; they were fairly certain that the Soviets knew about it and were taking satellite images of it. So, they painted a big smiley face on one of the dishes specifically for the Soviets amusement."

(image credit: Ayeka)

A huge old dish can serve as a perfect "tourist sign", seen from the highway. Here is one erected by the enthusiastic people of Lucas, Kansas:

(images credit: worldslargestthings)

Seeing red... broadcasting only communist channels? (Seen in Istanbul)

(image credit: redxdress)

These guys definitely need some art to brighten up the forest of these dishes:

Travel, Tours, Cruise, Adventure, Extreme Sports

Simple cow hide pattern:

(image credit: Ohiobarns.com)

More sophisticated creation - Japanese garden "Dish Dancers":

(image credit: Mary Hockenbery)

Cincinnati Artworks Gallery had a display of painted satellite dishes:

(images credit: Artworks Cincinnati)

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More Dish entertainment:

Satellite TV addict (via J-Walk Blog)

The Ultimate Antenna Tree:
"From the top down: UHF HDTV, Primestar getting FTA from IA5/Telstar 5, Dish Network foreign/HDTV, Dish 500 and finally all three birds for DirecTV."

(image credit: Dave Mathews)

Birds are using "antenna trees" to set up wind-resistant nests:

Dogs are getting used to new "dish" fashion:
(admittedly, it also helps after a doggy surgery)

(image credit: NonoJoe)

Reliable (if a little slow) delivery:

(image credit: Zac Shepherd)

If you live in the country, you can perhaps re-use your dish for a deer stand
(seen here)

Not all dishes are round... There is a bizarre "bi-quad" square-shaped kind, too.
- with instructions how to build it.

or consider a swanky "dish" lamp for a modern urbanite:

If none of these enhancements are cool enough for you - then go all out and build a vehicle out of old satellite dish elements (this one was displayed at the "Burning Man" show)

(Photo by Julian Cash. Supersnail.com)

To quote William Gibson's "Neuromancer": "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel..." - well, these urban dish creations should slightly enliven our industrial sky-scapes... And if this art form catches on, then such dishes perhaps can even be considered the "new flowers of the telecom age".

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