Rubik’s Cube ‘Mona Lisa’ goes on sale

A street art Rubik’s Cube version of the ‘Mona Lisa’ is expected to sell for up to 150,000 euros ($166,000) when it goes under the hammer in Paris this month.

Made from 330 Rubik’s Cubes by the French artist Invader — famous for his ceramic Space Invaders figures inspired by the vintage pixelated video game — is called ‘Rubik Mona Lisa’.

It is the first of a series of works in which the artist has recreated some of the great paintings of art history in Rubik’s Cubes. Invader, whose real name is Franck Slama, claimed that they are foundational creations of a new art movement called ‘Rubikcubism’.

He has glued Space Invaders works to walls in more than 33 countries, and even inspired smartphone applications for fans trying to track them down.

‘Rubik Mona Lisa’ will go on sale in Paris on February 23 as a part of auction featuring some of the biggest names in street art.

Woman gets paid to plan parties for dogs

We have heard about party planners who plan weddings, birthdays and many more such parties, but have you ever heard of someone who plans parties for dogs?

Well, Niki Sohrabkani works as a full-time party planner for pampered pooches at the London Dog Party Company.

An animal lover with two Labradoodles of her own, Niki got the idea for the quirky business while working as an international events organiser. As part of her job she was asked to plan a party for 20 dogs. The event was a huge hit and inspired her to quit her job and go out on her own. Now she plans glamorous events for fur babies — everything from birthday shindigs to pool parties and even Howl-o-ween bashes.

Niki and her team of five have hosted events which featured dog-friendly refreshments and snacks, including pawsecco and pupcorn. For entertainment, their team planned party games (musical paws), dog fancy dress, obstacle courses for the pooches and of course there were themed decorations all over the place.

Rare deep-sea creature caught on camera

A team from the Australian Institute of Marine Science has spotted the ‘benthic siphonophore’ which is so rare there have only been a few sightings ever globally.

The benthic siphonophore, which looks like a single animal, is actually a ‘floating city’ of many smaller organisms working together. The creatures are so rarely seen that their ecology is almost unknown, though they are thought to make their home at depths of up to 3000m.

The crew had been towing a video camera through the waters of Kimberley Marine Park in Western Australia when they made the monumental discovery.

Expedition leader Dr Karen Miller said: “We were undertaking towed video surveys to characterise the seabed biodiversity when we noticed lots of what looked like ‘pom poms’.

On closer inspection of high-resolution images, we realised what we were seeing were fields of benthic siphonophores. The creatures are very fragile and capturing them will require specialised equipment.

Published in Dawn, Young World, February 15th, 2020