The Biggest Drawing in the World

Posted by Alex in Arts & Crafts on May 26, 2008 at 12:29 am


With the help of a GPS device and DHL, Erik Nordenankar created the biggest drawing in the world: a self-portrait in a planetary etch-a-sketch scale measuring approximately 40,000 km2!

17th of March 2008, I sent away a briefcase containing a GPS device with the express transportation company DHL. I gave them exact travel instructions, where to go an in what order. 55 days later the briefcase returned to Stockholm. The GPS automatically recorded the briefcase’s journey around the world. The information was downloaded to my computer and gave me my drawing. Due to the GPS drawing technique and the magnitude of the drawing, the self portrait has to be made in only one stroke. That giant stroke passed through 6 continents and 62 countries, thus becoming 110 664 km long.

Now, fake or not (kind of hard to believe a DHL plane making those curly flight paths for the hair and so forth), it’s still a cool idea! :)

Link – via Make

Update 5/28/08 – The designer had confessed that it was all a hoax:

DHL confirmed to the Telegraph that the artwork was an “entirely fictional project”. A spokeswoman said they had allowed him to film in their Stockholm warehouse as part of a college project.

Link


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10 comments to "The Biggest Drawing in the World"

  1. Tiago
    May 26th, 2008 at 6:22 am

    completely fake.. its so hard to believe its just plain stupid

  2. ted
    May 26th, 2008 at 6:51 am

    You mean "so stupid, it's hard to believe".

  3. your_mum_goes_to_college
    May 26th, 2008 at 7:45 am

    Even if it were real (which it totally isn't), it still wouldn't be a drawing. The only "drawing" would be the one that appears on the computer at the end of the journey, which would only be as big as the screen - and certainly not the world's biggest.
    I suppose I'm "drawing" wherever I travel?

  4. Samppa79
    May 26th, 2008 at 7:52 am

    A GPS signal cannot penetrate dense materials. That briefcase looks dense enough to block the signal and the roof of a car or thick walls of an airplane blocks the rest.

  5. jonathan
    May 26th, 2008 at 9:08 am

    Too bad the "biggest drawing in the world" is of Erik - "largest ego in the world". Douche.

  6. semi
    May 26th, 2008 at 4:43 pm

    Yeah, I love those curlycues in the North Atlantic, Greenland Sea, and Norwegian Sea. Were the DHL pilots on acid?

    What a total fake. And Erik Nordenankar is a total douche nozzle.

  7. shinanigins
    May 26th, 2008 at 4:46 pm

    Could have at least centered the drawing over the land areas, so it would be more believable that DHL had made stops there, as opposed to a DHL plane making loop-the-loops out over the Atlantic.

    Fail.

  8. cutface
    May 27th, 2008 at 9:39 am

    I guess that huge hump back drove him to find solace in being a reclusice experimental artist/faker

  9. Ben Eshbach
    May 27th, 2008 at 3:34 pm

    These are all awesome comments! He he.

  10. Pants Payroll
    May 27th, 2008 at 6:36 pm

    http://biggestdrawingintheworld.com/drawing.aspx

    if you scroll down there's video of him quickly freehanding the drawing and if you scroll down to the bottom of the page it says "This is fictional work. DHL did not transport the GPS at any time "

    ...which begs the question "what the fuck?"


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