If you missed it Make blog did a nice interview with me regarding my affiliation with Applied Kinetic Arts.  I’ve reposted the text below.  You should also go check out the interviews they did with Nemo, Ben and Jeremy.

The Rocket Stop fabrication is in full swing!

Fabrication of the Rocket Stop should be gearing up over the next week.  Here are the most recent CAD images:

Almost Science, Always Art

BY LESLIE W. CHINN

Alan Rorie is a neuroscientist by training. These days, however, you’re more likely to find him using an MIG (metal-inert gas) welder to send sparks skimming over a cool slab of metal than peering at glowing monkey neurons through a microscope.

From Neurons to the Neuron Chamber

Not too many years ago, Rorie was a graduate student at Stanford University, investigating the amalgamation of different types of information in the cortexes of macaques during the decision-making process.

Now, Rorie amalgamates metals (and sometimes other materials) into works of art in a process that he calls “almost scientific.” This is also the name of the science and art collaborative that Rorie founded, as well as the name of his website, www.almostscientific.com. The goal of Almost Scientific, the collaborative, is to “educate scientists about art and artists about science” through the creation of art pieces that tend to be quite large, with moving parts.

Rorie always has been intrigued by moving parts— as a child, he says he was “really interested in taking stereos and blenders apart and putting them back together.”  He also loved to read and write stories, which eventually led him to study the humanities in college. But, Rorie began to feel that the true source of being able to understand and appreciate the humanities was rooted biologically, in the brain. “What makes a great painting or symphony really has to do with how you perceive it,” says Rorie, “so I became very interested in the neuroscience of perception.”

By the time Rorie discovered that neuroscience wasn’t yet able to explain how the brain experiences art, he had nonetheless become intrigued. “I was already hooked on just understanding the brain and how it works,” he remembers. To this end, Rorie did a stint at the National Institute of Mental Health, then moved to California for graduate school.

Slowly, however, Rorie began to see that his future was not at the bench. It took a while for him to decide that he wanted to focus on, as he puts it, “art and creative pursuits.” Arriving at this conclusion wasn’t easy, particularly because everyone, including himself, thought of Rorie as a scientist.

The Process of Creation

In his studio in West Oakland, Calif., Rorie creates works with fantastical names: the Raygun Gothic Rocketship, the Triaparator and the Neuron Chamber. This last work is an “electro-kinetic sculpture” that demonstrates what neurons are and what they do. And, yes, it uses electricity: 9,000 volts make for an impressive action potential as they arc, a blinding blue light, down axons made of metal.

Rorie not only is interested in teaching nonscientists about neurons— he also would  like them to understand the mechanical workings of the Neuron Chamber. “In the sense [that] I can teach either the scientific content of my sculpture or the physical mechanics of it,” he says, “I am happy to do that.”

Rorie appears to derive a great deal of satisfaction from the design and construction of his work. Because many of his pieces are large and have moving parts, he makes use of engineering techniques— for example, CAD (computer-aided design) programs during the planning process— as well as tools intended for more industrial purposes, such as the MIG welder.

“A lot of the really large-scale pieces that I work on require a tremendous amount of engineering,” says Rorie, “and that is a huge part of the challenge and the fun and the beauty of these pieces.” He seems to revel in the process of creation, or as he puts it, “figuring out how to take something crazy and make it real.” This also is part of the message of Rorie’s works— to inspire people with the way he has taken a material as strong and rigid as metal and molded it to represent something as delicate as a human neuron.

As in science experiments, meticulous planning in art only goes so far. Nothing ever comes out the way you planned it, Rorie says, so you always have to be ready to adapt to the reality of the work. “At a certain point, you stop telling the work what it’s going to be,” he explains, “and it starts telling you what it is.” But, unlike many scientists, for whom the ultimate thrill is seeing their work published, the excitement is over for Rorie once a piece is done. “It’s more the process that’s important to me— it’s more the thrill of doing than the thrill the final product brings.”

Action, Reaction

Science and art may seem to exist in separate spheres, but Rorie believes that ultimately, they’re both about communication. It’s the direction in which the two are communicating  that’s different, much like a reaction that can run in two different directions. The way Rorie sees it, scientists generate conceptual abstractions to explain physical phenomena, whereas artists generate physical embodiments of their abstract ideas, thoughts or knowledge. The Neuron Chamber was an experiment in this concept for Rorie: He wanted to take his knowledge of neuroscience and communicate it via a sculpture of “high-voltage, robotic neurons in an alien observation tank.”

So, was the experiment successful? Paul Doherty, founding director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, thinks so. He watched people interact with Rorie’s Neuron Chamber while it was installed at the museum. “As the visitors figured out what was happening, they could predict aloud what the spark would do next, then laugh if they were correct, or moan if they were not,” Doherty recalls. “[They] had been drawn into the world of sparks and neuron modeling.”

Rorie often creates pieces that move, light up, or spew sparks or steam. He does this not only because he enjoys the engineering challenge but also because it makes the art more “alive.” Kinetic art has “action and reaction to the world around it,” Rorie says. “It gets touched and moved; it wears down.” In a way, the moveable aspect of Rorie’s art is a continuation of the bidirectional communication experiment. Moving parts encourage people to interact with the art, which means that Rorie’s pieces sometimes wear out or break. He doesn’t mind— in fact, he likes to fix them because it gives him something to do at gallery shows.

“The Path Is That Simple”

For bench scientists who yearn for the freedom of arc welding, Rorie has this advice: find something you love and do it, and soon you’ll get to be it. He expands upon this in two parts. The first is that there isn’t necessarily a formal process for every step of one’s career. “You don’t need to apply,” he says. “If you want be a carpenter, you just go and be a carpenter. The path is that simple.”

The most difficult step may be overcoming one’s self-identification as a scientist, as it was for Rorie. So here’s the second part of his advice, which is more of a pep talk for those who don’t view proficiency with a confocal microscope as a skill that can be translated to another line of work: “Your education as a scientist is deeper and stronger than just the field in which you work.” Rorie notes that while he doesn’t do science anymore, he uses the skills that he learned as a graduate student every day.

Besides, says Rorie, as a scientist, “you are on the cutting edge of knowledge— so why can’t you do anything else that you imagine doing?”

While installing the Steampunk Treehouse at Dogfish Head Brewery we stayed at the beach “resort” town of Rehboth.  On one of our last nights, when most of the work was over, I went out with my lovely 50mm/1.4 and tried to capture the unique boardwalk vibe that I had been living in for the past two weeks.

Here is the final photo set from Five Ton Cranes recent permanent instillation of the Steampunk Treehouse at Dogfish Head Brewery!

Here are some  video highlights from the first three days!

At this very moment I am with the rest of the Five Ton Crane Crew in Milton, Delaware (Rehoboth Beach, really) installing The Steampunk Treehouse for the very last time.

Why is this the last time?  Well, it is now part of Dogfish Head Brewery!

The install is going well, and the folks at the brewery are amazingly cool and incredibly excited to get the house. We’ve just begun the install, and we’ve not had any time to get proper photos or video together, but it’s all going really well.  I’ve been posting some updates on twitter if you want to stay up to date on the install. I’ve built a whole new set of apertures for them, and there are lots of other new details we’ve added, so I’ll be sure to get some photos of all that.

Also, there is a film crew from the Discovery Channel here who are doing a series on the brewery, and they’ve been focused on us for the past few days. They have gotten some great footage.  The show won’t air until January, but we’ve been told the Treehouse install will be the subject of one of the 45-minute episodes.

In other news:  The Raygun Gothic Rocketship has been 100% enthusiastically approved for a 14-month-long, public installation on the San Francisco waterfront at Pier 14! The landing is scheduled for August 8!  Yikes, that’s soon!

As part of that, the Almost Scientific team has been designing a Rocket Stop. What is a Rocket Stop?  Well, a Rocket Stop is to Rockets what a Bus Stop is to buses.  It will be a 11′-tall steel sculpture with a 40″ back-lit graphical display (graphically designed by by Five Ton Crane’s ever-awesome Jody Medich.)  There will be a lot more posts about that in the coming weeks.

A lot going on this summer!

Oh, and, The Raygun Gothic Rocketship was also just featured on Wired! Let David take you a nice tour of the RGR:

I think we’ve just recovered from bringing The Neuron Chamber to Maker Faire 2009 and now Maker Faire 2010 is upon us.

We are going to have a lot going on this year.  In addition to once again showing new work with the ever awesome Applied Kinetic Arts,  we are also going to be putting together our mother fucking rocketship with Five Ton Crane, complete with The Uira Engine (in low voltage mode only … sorry kids).

Additionally, Almost Scientific principle investigator Alan Rorie will be part of a panel discussion at 5pm on Saturday.

And, finally you’ll be able to purchase Almost Scientific’s laser-cut, wooden model, and the papercraft  model, of the Raygun Gothic Rocketship.

The Uira Engine

The Raygun Gothic Rocketship

Aperture Lamp

Laser cut wooden model of the RGR (assembled)

Laser cut wooden model of the RGR (as kit)

Papercraft model of the RGR (assembled)

Papercraft model of the RGR (1 of 6 sheets in kit)

The Five Ton Crane Arts Group proudly announces…!
the historic, permanent installation of…!
the beloved Steampunk Tree House!

This iconic, fully immersive work of art was the first epic creation by the Oakland based arts group Five Ton Crane. First exhibited at the 2007 Burning Man festival in Nevada, it went on to capture imaginations all over the world!

This June 2010 the Tree House will plant its permanent roots on the East Coast. Visitors can once again clamber up the trunk, peer through the spyglass, look out over the balcony, work the levers of the Triaparator, flap the kinetic wings of the vulture and wonder at the story behind this mysterious habitation that they have stumbled upon.

This is the first time in the history of Burning Man that a large-scale sculpture of this type, originally funded for the playa, has been permanently installed … anywhere!

But… this historic event will not happen without your help!

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 …

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.

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.

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.)

Last week I had the great pleasure of of speaking to the National Cancer Institute about the relationship between art and science.

Below I’ve posted the visual part of the presentation, but sadly there is not audio or video recording to go along.

Here is a brief summary of my 30-minute presentation to help you make sense of the visuals.

I began by emphasizing that I am in no way an academic expert on the relationship between art and science.  I was, however, a rare example of someone formally trained in science, but working as an artist.  Then, before I got into the big picture of Art and Science, I spent some time discussing the similarity between working as an artists and working as a scientist. Both involve long hours of hard work for little pay or recognition, during which nothing ever seems like it’s working or going well or coming out the way you’d hoped; and this work is rarely punctuated by brief moments when the stars align, the universe unfolds and amazingly beautiful things happen. Finally, I emphasized the important role of community and criticism to both artists and scientists.

From there I touched upon some of the big picture relationships between art and science. They are the two great modes of human thought, both pushing the boundaries of what we know and how we know it; what we can perceive and how we perceive it. I quickly went over the role of aesthetics and experimentation in both. I pointed out that because art and science share so many things in common, it’s often suggested that the line between them is blurry. While I understand this suggestion is often made in an attempt to elevate both, I believe it actually diminishes both. We know there is a difference between art and science, but what is, and what can it tell us about their relationship and importance, we are still exploring.

Ironically, art and science differ most noticeably in the last great trait they have in common: communication. While both art and science are principally about communication, they differ in the direction in which they are communicating. Science begins with the physical, observable, concrete occurrences in the world and scientists generate abstractions that communicate their understanding of these phenomena. I used Newton’s law of gravitation as an example. He began (the story goes) by observing an apple falling from a tree. From this (and a lot of other observations and work) he generated his formulation of gravity, an abstraction that has nothing to do with apples or trees. It is pure science, a beautiful and clear abstraction, that is its power.

Art, I suggested, ran this reaction in the opposite direction. Artists begin with their abstract internal understanding, beliefs or feelings, something that exists within them. Artists then work to generate specific, concrete, physical manifestations of these abstractions: paintings, songs, dances, sculptures, etc.  As an example of this, I presented The Neuron Chamber as an attempt to take an abstract understanding of both how neurons work, and my experiences studying them, and create a sculpture that communicates that.

I discussed how this led me to think more explicitly about the role of education in my work, and how I viewed teaching as very close to generating artwork. I pointed out that when you teach, you are forced to take all the things you know about a topic, all the abstractions you understand, and communicate them using the solid and specific, usually speaking. I reminded them that when you teach something you often develop deep insights into what you are teaching. I suggested this was because you are forced to make the abstract concrete, you are in a sense working as an artist. I spoke about my work at the Exploratorium developing hands-on and interactive ways to teach science.

Finally, I encouraged them all to go and try this with their own work. To generate specific, aesthetic, physical representations of what they were studying scientifically. When forced to find a set of mappings between what you know and what you are creating, you develop a new understanding. I told them that just as they can get the benefits of exercise without thinking of themselves as athletes, or competing in the Olympics, they do not need to think of themselves as artists to get the benefits of creating art.

Inverse Graphing Calculator

The Inverse Graphing Calculator (version beta-1) is like a backwards graphing calculator. Normally, you enter an equation into your calculator and then get a graph of the curve. The way the IGC works is, you type something you’d like as your curve, like ‘Hello World’ or ‘I love you’. The IGC produces an *equation* which has this phrase as its graph!

(y-2x+2)^2(y+2x-10)^2((y-3)^2+|x-(5/2)|+|x-(7/2)|-1)^2(x-5)^2((y-2)^2+|x-5|+|x-7|-2)^2(x-8)^2
(y+2x-20)^2(y-2x+16)^2(x-10)^2((x-12)^2+(y-3)^2-1)^2((y-(1/2)x+5)^2+|x-14|+|x-16|-2)^2
((y-3)^2+|x-14|+|x-16|-2)^2((y-(1/2)x+4)^2+|x-14|+|x-16|-2)^2(x-18)^2((y-4)^2+|x-17|+|x-19|-2)^2
((y-(1/2)x+9)^2+|x-22|+|x-24|-2)^2((y-3)^2+|x-22|+|x-24|-2)^2((y-(1/2)x+8)^2+|x-22|+|x-24|-2)^2
((y-(1/2)x+(19/2))^2+|x-25|+|x-27|-2)^2((y+(1/2)x-(31/2))^2+|x-25|+|x-27|-2)^2(x-29)^2((y-4)^2+|x-28|+|x-30|-2)^2
(y-2x+108)^2(x-31)^2((y-2)^2+|x-31|+|x-33|-2)^2((y-3)^2+|x-31|+|x-32|-1)^2
((y-4)^2+|x-31|+|x-33|-2)^2(x-34)^2(y+x-38)^2(x-36)^2(x-38)^2((y-4)^2+|x-37|+|x-39|-2)^2(x-41)^2
((y-4)^2+|x-40|+|x-42|-2)^2(y-2x+156)^2(x-43)^2((y-3)^2+|x-43|+|x-44|-1)^2
((y-4)^2+|x-43|+|x-45|-2)^2(x-47)^2((y-4)^2+|x-46|+|x-48|-2)^2(y-2x+180)^2
((y-(1/2)x+(43/2))^2+|x-49|+|x-51|-2)^2((y+(1/2)x-(55/2))^2+|x-49|+|x-51|-2)^2+(y^2-6y+8+sqrt(y^4-12y^3+52y^2-96y+64))^2=0

My limited edition papercraft models of The Raygun Gothic Rocketship are for sale on Makers Market.

I’m not going to say exactly how we got these.

But I will say there are several Tublians on Neblous-9 who risked a lot to get these to me. I hope none of them lost any gills.

There are Top Secret Rocket Corps documents (Dogstar clearance and higher!) that have full specifications and Materaliser specs for The Raygun Gothic Rocketship.

Normally these could produce a perfect, working Raygun Gothic Rocketship by printing on Piperarian Dimensional Flux Sheet, assembling it with nanobots and placing it in a 7-axis Materaliser.

However, because such technology is banned on Earth (don’t complain to me, send a beammail to your Universe Senator), I’ve printed them on on 100lb glossy paper.

You can use a sharp knife and some adhesive to make yourself a scale, paper model of The Raygun Gothic Rocketship.

For $12.50 you get a full papercraft model printed on 100lb. glossy paper that we mail to you.

Join the Rocket Corps today!

I’ve had this small Aperture that I made as a prototype for the Triaparator that has been kicking around my studio for a while.

Well, I’ve decided to turn it into a lamp.

Fitting huh?

It’s still has that raw, being-worked on look to it but it’s close enough to the final idea that I’m okay posting it.

The light source will go behind the small circle at the center of the aperture and throw light onto the copper hemisphere.

I’m going to use an LED for the light source. Normally, I avoid LEDs on old looking work like this, however, I’d like to sell this and an LED will last longer.

UPDATE (March 7th):  I finished the lamp in time for the Five Ton Crane group art show opening on Friday night.  The Flicker set below has updated photos of the finished lamp at the show.  It will continue to be on display for the next three weeks and is for sale for $600.00.  When I get a chance I’ll try to post an updated video of the aperture opening and closing with the light on.  The lamp is adjustable, it can rotate and pivot.

I know I’ve posted a video of some of the experiments we did involving evacuating the plasma tubes of the Uira Engine but I’m not sure I ever posted any video of this later tube design.

Wow.  I found this when I was cleaning out my laptop hard drive.  This is one of the first concept drawings Ben (of Backbone Metals fame) did when he and I were first planning The Neuron Chamber.  It’s amazing how close we got to these original drawings while still creating something entirely different.

I’m not sure if I’ve posted about it here (I’m loosing track of what I’ve been posting where) but I’ve been working on a papercraft model of the RGR in addition to the wooden model.  I really had no idea how hard it was going to be to design a nice papercraft model of the RGR.  It’s got so many funky curves and you can’t simplify them or you loose the whole shape.  Below are some photos of the current model.  This is nearly the final design, I still need to do the fin layout and then add some details (rivets, logo, doors, etc.) to the images.  I put this one together really fast just so I can see how well the design worked which is why the model looks a little sloppy.  I’m impressed with how well the main curve holds up to flattening and reassembly.

I’ve started working on a new lamp.  The idea for this came from two components that have been kicking around on my work bench for a while that I realized would work well together.  The first is one of those pneumatic things that prevents your trunk from slamming down on you which is now broken and only offers sleight resistance as it slides in and out.  The second is this strange, plastic, green thing that already mounted to an aluminum bit that just screams to have an LED put in it.

The first thing I did was quickly machine two stainless bits that screw on to the threaded ends of the pneumatic thing.  These are what I’ll use to attach the light and the base.

I did a quick CAD sketch to show all the basic movements it will have.

The pneumatic rod, now black, will be painted green to match the plastic green bit the LED will go in.

There is still allot to figure out about this one.

Oh, it’s called the Norgren Lamp because, the plastic bit was made by Norgren and still has there sticker on it.

Almost Scientific will be showing The Triaparator and some new odds and ends on Friday, March 5th.

The show is at 416 26th Street, Oakland, (Betw.Telegraph and Broadway)

This is the first show of the nascent Five Ton Crane.

A few weeks ago I posted about a few new sculptures I’ve started, none of which have any designs or plans, but are “make them up as you go along” projects.  One of them I’ve been calling Spinny or sometimes Spinny Thing and it’s going to, well spin.  The spinning is going to activate the sculpture much like a centrifugal governor and different kinetic elements will be engaged at different speeds.  The first step was to get the thing spinning so I can start to experiment.  Well, here are some photos of the mounting (I finally got to use that giant I-beam I’ve been lugging around for years) and a little video of Spinny Thing spinning under human control.

So one of the ideas I had while building the Rocket Sam papercraft model was to build some scale models of the Raygun Gothic Rocket that everyone would be able to build.

I’m doing the first in wood, and I just got done putting together a prototype.  This was laser cut out of 1/16″ plywood, it’s about 13″ tall, currently has 6 unique parts and is glued together.  There were some minor design problems with this first prototype, specifically, I made the slots where the pieces come together  a bit too big and I think that the 1/16″ ply is too thin for most people to work with (it was kind of annoying for even me to put together).  So, the next version will likely be out of 1/8″ ply, and have tighter slots.

When the design is locked in and detailed out, the models will be for sale here at Almost Scientific, the RGR webpage and any showings of the RGR we do.

For now, you’ll just have to enjoy the photos of the prototype:

About a month or so ago I picked up a copy of the SF Panorama which was almost too great for words.  One of the best things in it was a Rocket Sam comic by Chris Ware that, on the back, had a paper-craft model of rocket.  Well, the other night I totally geeked out on with a x-acto, a straight edge, some Elemers and cheep paint brush.

I had allot of fun making it and photographing it.  But more importantly it really inspired me while working on it.  I had a few really great ideas that popped into my head while building it.  I’m continually shocked at how deep the connection is between my cognitive activity and building with my hands, even if it is just cutting up and gluing together little bits of paper.  That activity can be so powerful.

The Panorama was created by the McSweeney’s folks to show the wold how valuable a physical newspaper can be in today’s digital world, and I think the Rocket Sam model really speaks to that.  I’d really love if some little paper craft project showed up at my door each week, printed on heavy stock with bright colors.  Imagine all the great ideas that would pop into my head.  Imagine people all over the city sitting down to build the same paper-craft models each week.

One idea is almost directly related to this Rocket Sam model and our Raygun Gothic Rocketship.  I’m not ready to post about it yet, but I’ll have it ready for an upcoming show in March.

Enjoy the photos …

The West Oakland Rocketry Club is an Art Rocketry club, based out of West Oakland CA, that Almost Scientific has been part of since the first launch.

Every once in a while (usually at the prompting of Radio Robot) we gather up our hot glue guns, cardboard tubes, Estes motors, wires, pie, our custom designed Launch Control Case and whatever we have lying around, and together we build art rockets.  Since this is art rocketry not rocket science we work with a philosophy that the rockets don’t need to go up, but they do need to go somewhere.

We’ve built rockets out of almost everything: frozen turkeys, snow men, pods, ice, Slinky, Chinese food containers, steel, Popsicle sticks, feathers, and pork rinds.  We’ve launched them in rain and snow.

While the rockets we make are awesome and amazing to launch the best part is gathering with friends to spontaneously make art.

Below is a slide show of some of my best photos of WORC since it’s first meeting.

Enjoy. Go build your own, and leave the instructions in the box.

(and wear safety goggles)

I love the things you discover when you slowly incorporate the things you already have into a loose design.  This project really began when I was designing the Triaparator for the Steampunk Treehouse.  While designing the blades I imagined it would bee really beautiful to bend the blades upward as they opened and closed.  When I did the first sketch of this concept I drove the motion with the same cam concept I used on the Triaparator.  I quickly realized gears would be better.  Not wanting to go buy gears I began scouting round for things I could find.  Then I ran into Mark Galt (who’s in Applied Kinetic Arts) who hooked me up with some gears that could work.  Once I had the drive mechanism locked in I could really start playing with specific blade concepts.  Below are some new motion studies of some of the ideas I’ve been playing with.  Here they are turning at 1 RPM, however, I really want it to go much slower.

I’m really torn between these two concepts.  Any preferences out there?

Also, please let me know if you are having trouble with the videos not showing video.  I’ve have sporadic glitches and can’t determine on what end there is a problem.

Same concept as above but at a different viewing angle.

Here is the other cool blade design.  This video also shows a bit of the housing I’m imagining.

While we were building the Raygun Gothic Rocketship I was so busy working that I never had any time to take photos.  I never felt bad about it because there were so many great photographers taking shots of it.  Well today we had to display the Rocket for some very exciting secrete guests and I used it has a chance to finally snap some photos of my own.  Of course most of the work had been removed from the RGR so while I was shooting I began to image they were relics being displayed in a museum.

Finally got a set of gears to build a prototype of the Deep Aperture

I could not resist.  Go get your own. You know you want one.  (via NerdCore)

Because I’ve not been working on a heavily-engineered kinetic or high-voltage stuff lately I’ve returned to an earlier style of working.  I’m spending more time improvising and letting the sculpture tell me what it wants to be.  I’m also spending time working on several pieces throughout the day letting my attention wander between them.

I’ve been playing around with some really nice stainless tube and wire the past few days.  This originally started as abstract, organic sculpture but now I think I’m going to attach it to this stainless container and turn it into a planter of some kind.  I’m going to try and find a plant that will grow and climb all over the twisty bits.  I can also use the tube to create a watering system.

I love the reflection on the container.

This one is going to be kinetic. When the shaft spins the blades will pivot up.  I’m going to add to this so that its shape changes, and new actions become engaged as the blades rises.  Not sure if it will be hand powered or motor powered.

Not sure what these are at all yet.  They are all stainless and silicone bronze.  Remind me of flowers.  I’d never set out to make flowers.  This might be minimal kinetic — perhaps as a mobile of some kind.

Portraits of me at work, and my trusted shop assistant waking from a nap.

Here is a sketch of a concept that I’m thinking of developing into a new kinetic sculpture.   In this animation the camera is rotating changing the view, however, the twists translation is controlled by simply rotating the upper black ring.

Last week I delivered the second of two talks on “Dog Park Science,” at the Exploratorium.  You can find the audio of the first talk here.  The two talks are on very different topics.  The first is on the evolution of the dog, while this second one is about some of the core animal psychology and neurobiology that underlies animal training.

Here I’ve posted both the audio of the talk and the slide presentation.

In the talk I reference a few outside articles that I shared with the staff there after the talk.  At the end of this post I’ve put some links to some of the papers and articles I mention in the talk.

Dog Park Science Part 2: The Neurobiology of Dog Training

What Shamu Taught Me About A Happy Marriage:
A science writer uses animal behavior tricks on her husband

A Molecule of Motivation, Dopamine Excels at Its Task
A piece about the emerging concept of Dopamine as a “salience” signal

Predictive Reward Signal of Dopamine Neurons
Full text of a 1998 classic review paper on Dopamine

I’m pleased to anounce that The Steampunk Treehouse will be permanently installed at Dogfish Head brewery in Delaware!

There will be allot more info soon but the word is we’ll be installing sometime in May or June of 2010!

This is going to be allot of fun!

This is a documentary of the making of the Raygun Gothic Rocket and its installation at Burningman.

One day when I was working on the rocket, this kid showed up with all this camera gear and lights. He started setting up and taking shots in the middle of the shop while people were working. Not just snapshots, mind you, but actual photographs.

I remember being a little annoyed at first, because he was kind of in the way, and he wasn’t there to do anything but take pictures.

But when I saw the photos this guy was taking, they were amazing.

I got to know him, and it turns out he’s an amazing photographer and videographer named Sean Donnelly.

After taking photos and videos of us throughout the making of the Rocket, he came out to Burningman with us to videotape the installation. In addition to putting together a great Oakland Tribune article about us, he also did this video documentary that he just posted on Vimeo.

So many times I cringe whenever I see myself in a video that features the work we do.  But because Sean spent so much time with us, I think he really captured who we were and what the project was about.

I love how it shows the project from the beginning to the end, all the way through to the installation. It really focused on the people. Sean realized early on that the people who made the rocket made it to be with the people who were making it. The fact this video shows that is one of the things I like about it.

Blast Off! from Sean Donnelly on Vimeo.

a documentary on the building of the raygun gothic rocketship!

Experiments with conductive glass from Almost Scientific on Vimeo.

Here we’ve created a dielectric barrier discharge with transparent, conductive glass.

When we did our last show at the Exploratorium I did a video interview with Wired about what The Neuron Chamber was and how it worked.  I loved that they wanted me to explain in detail how it worked and not just give a 5 second sound bite.  Well the video just went live and it’s really great.  They wove in some footage I gave them from our show at The Science Gallery in Ireland and Maker Faire.  Thanks Wired!