Applied Kinetic Arts

Some nice studio shots of my latest, Bust IV, Mayuko’s Damselfly, and Hand II.

I have started working with ARC Science Simulations, creators of the Omni Globe.  I will be doing production and installation on these incredible 3D projection display’s.

On Friday Almost Scientific will be installing The Triaparator at Borderland Books, an amazing and beautiful Science Fiction and Fantasy bookstore in San Francisco.  I’m really excited about this instillation.  I love the idea of the apertures stewing in all that sci-fi.

In preparation of the install I’m doing a major overall of the piece.  I realized today while working on it that I’d not really taken it apart or cleaned it since 2007 when they were made.

Tonight, after chewing over the plans for the new roof for the Steampunk Treehouse (more on that later) I started to tear down The Triaparator.

Here is a time-lapse video (my new guilty pleasure) of the process that let’s you see it’s ugly inside …

Bust IV is done! Proper professional photos later this week.

If you live in the S.F. bay area be sure and come by Periscope Cellars in Emeryville Wednesday April 28th. I’ll be participating in their second annual Science Fiction & Fantasy Art Exhibit. It promises to be a really cool show. I’ll have five pieces on display including “Under the Sea” (shown in flyer below) and “Acoustapus” which I’ll be showing for the first time.
RSVP to Facebook event here
1410 62nd Street Emeryville, CA 94608 Wednesday April 28th 6-9 pm.

I did an interview with the Daily Californian (U.C. Berkeley campus paper) a little while back. I just came across the piece online and thought it was worth sharing here. I like the way it came out.

As you have no doubt noticed, all of my work is made from “found” materials. In the last few days I have received many donations. This phenomenon has been increasingly frequent and has me thinking that “found” is no longer an accurate description. Here is a summary of these recent acquisitions.
Above are four giant piano legs. Super cool even if they are a bit rotten. Thanks Tarek!

Here is a nifty time-lapse video of us assembling the Raygun Gothic Rocketship at NASA Ames for Yuri’s night.

I love the way we scurry about in this video.

Also be sure to check out these spectacular photos of the Raygun Gothic at Yuri’s night.

And stay tuned for more videos from the event.

And don’t forget! You can see the Raygun Gothic Rocketship in person at Maker Faire on May 22-23.

I am exhibiting my Rotobotmouse and a American Beauty Lamp in this group exhibition in Boulder, Co. May – June.

Along with the fantastic Five Ton Crane crew, Almost Scientific just completed another installation of the Raygun Gothic Rocketship at NASA Ames. While setting up our rocket and getting to play with it for a few days is always something special, this time we also got to share it with two amazing groups: school kids and NASA folks. It was a great pleasure to share our work with both kids who believed the RGR goes into space every day and with NASA Astronauts who wanted to believe the RGR was the type of rocket they build and fly every day.

It was also a real honor to be able to install the RGR at the historic NASA Ames Research Center.  In addition to getting to see our rocket among the amazing buildings they have, we also got to interact with a lot of really amazing NASA personnel, from safety inspectors to world-famous Astronauts. We even got a great tour of the moon landing and shuttle simulators.

I got a lot of photos and video of everything from the installation to the party, and I’m just starting to go through it all now.  I don’t have any photos of the install itself because the CF card in my camera died that day, but I have some great video of the RGR going together, and I don’t have any photos or video of the deinstall because it was pouring rain.

Here are the sets of photos from the show. First a set from the Education day, then a set from the tour (and some great architecture), then a set from the party itself. The video will be coming very soon.

And don’t forget! You can see the Raygun Gothic Rocketship in person at Maker Faire on May 22-23.

Did you see the mention in the latest issue of make magazine! , and the Featured Maker post today thanks to Sean Ragan, and all of the Maker’s Market team for the support.

Video by Dead Man’s Bones, featuring a sculpture by Arthur Ganson.

I live on the most twisty street in San Francisco.  No, not Lombard St … Vermont St!  And of all the crazy, stupid events that happens on this street on a regular basis the best is the Bring Your Own Big Wheel race (BYOBW).

That’s right, on Easter Sunday, all the beautiful, freaky people grab something with plastic wheels and spend a few hours racing whatever they brought down the twists of my hill.  This year is was pouring rain and super windy but it takes more then that to defeat the San Francisco freak.

To those who raced past my house, as I sat warm and dry, drinking a beer, I say — Thank you for the superb entertainment!

It’s crazy, stupid, fun, free events like this that make SF the most creative and interesting city in America.

Here are some videos I shot of the race from my window:

The first is a manual and arbitrary time lapse.  I simply took a photo whenever I thought to until my SD card was full:

Since that fails to fully capture the events raw crazy (doubled this year because of the rain) here is a short video of race as seen from my window:

Finally, one of my favorite moments is when the races are put on hold so that a whole mess of racers can walk up to the top of the hill and race again:

Ever since I started to make high voltage arcs for shits and giggles I’ve wanted to get really, really, really, really close up to one, watch it spark and wiggle.  This is as dangerous as you think it is, so I’ve never done it (these guys do).  I know you can get some really cool photos of arcs but I really wanted some macro video.

Well with the help of Sean Donnelly I’ve been able to get exactly that.

The video below is if a 15 000 V electric arc shot with a 100 macro lens.  The arc is, at most, about 1.75″.  This was our first attempt at shooting this so we played around with the exposure and wiggling the electrodes.  I think there is allot of potential in these video.  I think my next step is going to be to mechanically couple the electrodes to speakers hooked up to a signal generator.

Sean also shot some great video of me running the controls, and it looked so stunning with the 100 mm lens that I had to include it.  (I wont blame you if you think it’s the best part of the movie.)