Search Results for: art

Shrink Exercise: Growth Chart Resilience

May 6, 2018 By arne hendriks Off

When we say that the human species is obsessed with growth we mean that even without specific context any decline or absence of growth mostly inspires a negative response. At the same time an increase creates a positive feeling. Through a series of simple exercises…

Short Hearts

April 9, 2013 By arne hendriks Off

Despite what many of us think, tall stature is not synonymous with health. Although anthropometric historians like Robert Fogel and John Komlos stress that the reasons why we are so tall are the result of better health, this doesn’t mean that being tall itself is…

This Crowded Earth

November 30, 2012 By arne hendriks 1

This Crowded Earth by Robert Bloch is a 1958 novel set in a future where overpopulation has inspired science to create a small human race with the use of hormone therapy. The story starts in the late 1990’s when suicide, crime and accidents have increased steeply…

Small & Smart

January 29, 2011 By arne hendriks 1

There is an understandable fear that in shrinking the human body we might lose part of our brain capacity. With a projected head size of about 6 x 4,5cm it’s an obvious concern. One of the possible solutions we’ve reported on in a previous post,…

Participate

April 1, 2010 By arne hendriks Off

The Incredible Shrinking Man is looking for good ideas and powerful stories to help promote our vision of a smaller future human species. We  prefer to gather intelligence through facilitating collective creativity, fantasy and knowledge. Please share what you know with us. If you are interested…

Japanese Miniatures: Sukunabiko

April 18, 2024 By arne hendriks Off

There is something majestic about the arrival of the shinto dwarf god Sukunabiko (AKA The small lord of renown) to the shores of Izumo province in Japan. Dressed in the wings of a moth and carried by a tiny boat made from a sweet potato…

Exponential Stairs

April 15, 2024 By arne hendriks Off

The Exponential Staircase (2013) was an artistic research project by students of the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, as part of a 3 day Shrinking Man masterclass that investigated the experience of becoming smaller. The daily topics evolved around the themes of food,…

Gravity is a Harsh Mistress

March 30, 2024 By arne hendriks Off

The Looney Tunes character Wile E. Coyote is based on Mark Twain’s description of a coyote as “a living, breathing allegory of Want. He is always hungry.” Twain then continues to make an unsavoury comparison between coyotes and native Americans. But this doesn’t take away…

Dino/Bird Maker Space

March 25, 2024 By arne hendriks Off

Birds evolved through a unique phase of sustained miniaturisation in theropod dinosaurs. They didn’t just shrink but continued to do so over long periods of time. Therefor we can conclude that long before their small decendents developed the ability to fly, smallness already had clear…

Cryptic Female Choice

March 4, 2024 By arne hendriks Off

One of the reasons why large mammals are shrinking is because smaller beings need less and are more resilient. In the light of threatening climate change the small have a greater chance at survival, which from an evolutionary perspective, makes smallness an attractive feature. People…

Okinawa Allowances

February 29, 2024 By arne hendriks Off

During a recent visit to the Japanese island of Okinawa in search of the secret of smaller we were lucky enough to end up at Marina’s Cafe. Not because the food was good (which it was), but because we met its owner Mariko, who explained…

The Giants: Blunderbore

November 21, 2023 By arne hendriks Off

Although contemporary man can be considered a giant, we do not see ourselves as such. In fact we generally distance ourselves from the giant by associating them with forms of evil so outrageous that it doesn’t affect our sense of self. By short investigations of…

French Door Fridge

October 10, 2023 By arne hendriks Off

Plus-sized fridges in American kitchens have long been regarded as a domesticated expression of the banal idea that bigger is better. And the rest of the world caught up. Many a kitchen is dwarfed by the size of their refrigerator. We’ve come to the end…

200 Years of Growing Pain

October 5, 2023 By arne hendriks Off

The term growing pain was first mentioned in 1823 by Marcel Duchamp, not the artist but a French physician. It relates to the condition of benign nocturnal limb pains in childhood, most often occuring between 3 and 12 years old. Many studies have tried to…

Overgrowth

October 3, 2023 By arne hendriks Off

“Overgrowth“ is a large video projection of a bonsai tree by the British artist Ceal Floyer. The Incredible Shrinking Man first encountered the work during the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009 where it was presented at the end of a long corridor. As such it…

The Giants: Gashadokuro

July 5, 2023 By arne hendriks Off

To know the small we must also understand the tall. Although contemporary man is himself a giant, The Giants is not about the Robert Wadlows, the Shaquille O’Neals or the Trijntje Keevers of this world. They were real people, albeit very tall. However The Giants…

Elfin Forest

March 20, 2023 By arne hendriks Off

Elfin, dwarf or pygmy forests show us that not only individual species but entire ecosystems select for small size when things get rough. The forests are uncommon ecosystems featuring miniature trees with shallow but extensive horizontal root systems, and mostly inhabited by equally small animals such…

Type 700 Tom

February 20, 2023 By arne hendriks Off

The Thumbling project focuses on global variants of the Tom Thumb and Thumbelina tale. There are literally hundreds of variants of this popular story that features a character of extremely tiny size. This character may be referred to as thumbling, inchling, fingerling, dwarf, homunculus, manikin,…

Shrinkflation

February 18, 2023 By arne hendriks Off

Shrinkflation, also known as the grocery shrink ray, is the practice of reducing the weight or size of an item without lowering its price. The practise is often used as an alternative to raising prices during times of inflation. We get less volume but pay the…