Ever seen a virtual Flag?

Irish Artist John Gerrard created this incredible "flag" made of black smoke situated on the site of the first major oil find in Spindletop, Texas.
Gerrard himself describes the project as follows:

“One of the greatest legacies of the 20th century is not just population explosion or better living standards but vastly raised carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. A new flag attempts to give this invisible gas, this international risk, an image, a way to represent itself. I like to think of it as a flag for a new kind of world order.” John Gerrard

What might not be obvious from the pictures is the fact that the flag is actually not real. The Images are computer generated:

The computer generated Spindletop runs in exact parallel with the real site in Texas throughout the year: the sun rising at the appropriate times and the days getting longer and shorter according to the seasons. The simulation is non-durational (having no beginning or end) and is run live by software that is calculating each frame of the animation in real time as it is needed.
It' still an awesome sight to behold, and with all the attention this project is getting it might even be made into reality soon.

Quotes from www.johngerrard.net

Image by John Gerrard http://www.johngerrard.net/

You can find out more about the project on the artists website and on Dezeen