The Art of Statue Staring

Han, a companion to Denmark's national treasure, the Little Mermaid, has been unveiled in Helsingør, just outside of Kulturværftet. A beautiful statue, Han was created by sculptors Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset. (We at GeekPhysical just watched an amazing mini documentary on how bronze statues are made, and have endless respect for the work that goes into them. You can see it here, on Makezine: http://blog.makezine.com/2012/04/19/bronze-casting-timelapse/

When Han arrived to Kulturværftet, he needed a little bit of work done on his eyes, which have been designed to blink once an hour. The effect is stunning and Dzl was happy to help out. Dzl was put into full scale inventor-mode and designed a new casing for the motor lever in the statue's eyes.

We caught a couple quick photos of Han without his head before we had to seal him up for the big unveiling! (Below)

Read about the statue here:
English:http://thecorknews.ie/articles/new-companion-copenhagens-little-mermaid-5950
Danish: http://kulturvaerftet.dk/kalender/2012/juni/ankomsten.aspx

Below image from Kulturværftet's page: 

http://www.kulturvaerftet.dk/nyheder/2012/maj/han-afsloeres.aspx

Scream for The Scream

Everyone tried it..., a photo by geekphysical on Flickr.

We were invited to a special gallery opening for "Itchy Soul" (itchysoul.se/). A handful of artists were invited to create a 20 X 20 canvas, with their own version of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" (recently sold for $120 million).

Of course, we had to create an interactive version - so to see "The Scream" you had to, well, scream! We attached a microphone which hung below the piece, and gallery visitors had to scream (quite loudly) to activate the image of the scream.

We enjoyed thinking about how this piece would be (and was) received. Screaming in public is one thing. If you're a child, it's an everyday occurrence. As an adult, we can't remember the last time we really screamed and let loose. Screaming at an art gallery opening (again, sorry Emmy for all the screams!) is a truly taboo thing to be doing - but that's exactly the point. Getting out of your comfort zone, and gathering up the courage to break social norms, and release some tension - good for you all those who screamed with all their might!

We had a great time and would love to take this project further - several people suggested a great feature, a camera that records people as they scream hidden in the frame - that'll have to be in the next iteration.

Thanks to all participants, and especially to Emmy and Mattias!

Tesla Coil, cage, and our WEIRD lamp go to the Click Festival

Now with Tesla Coil and beautiful cage, a photo by geekphysical on Flickr.

For the Click Festival at the Culture Yard (Kulturværftet) in Helsingør, we created an interactive, musical Tesla Coil as part of our six month exhibition honoring Nikola Tesla with illutron and Casper Øbro (Curator).

The coil was built specifically with aesthetics and interactivity in mind, with every part designed by Dzl, and built by Dzl and Marc (Marc Cedenius).

Our initial interaction was a simple button and switch adjusting frequency and duration. We then hooked up an old keyboard and finally had the privilege of Bo Thorning (www.newfolder.dk/) playing live on the Tesla coil for each and every one of the shows throughout the festival!

A big thanks to Bo, Dzl, Marc, Casper and everyone at Click Festival!

Interactive Bikes at the Diabetes awareness event

This woman was awesome, she was full of energy and smiles, a photo by geekphysical on Flickr.

For the Diabetes Leadership Forum, hosted by Novo Nordisk 24 - 26 April, 2012, we created an Interactive Bike installation, placed in Copenhagen's Central Station as part of a Diabetes awareness event.

The scene was four bikes, where people would participate in a 3 minute, 2 kilometer race. For every race, the risk of Diabetes went down (as shown on a graph).

Participants received Diabetes information packages and had the chance to sample healthy food cooked by a local food celebrity Claus Holm from the morning show "Go’ Morgen Danmark", and get their blood tested and have a mini consultation with a nurse.

On the first day, cook Claus Holm counted 2750 visitors! We had a wonderful time with the highly energetic participants and staff.

What's under the hood?
We used Hall sensors to detect magnetic change and attached magnets to the pedals, then took all four bikes to a receiver box and output everything as data.

This data was taken by a Flash programmer (the fabulous Dennis) from Tekstur.dk and translated into moving graphics, care of ADtomic.dk.

Truly a team effort, we were all organized by Martin Ersted.

Kissing Veil

Kissing Veil, a set on Flickr.

At this rate, we're thinking about moving to Brazil, people seem to like interactive things there! The lovely folks who took our Bridal bouquet on tour in Brazil asked for a second round of bridal fun and after many ideas and brainstorming sessions, we came to a conclusion. Something for the bride, that stood out on the runway - so let us present to you, the Kissing Veil. As the bride and groom kiss, the veil lights up in a stunning display of fiber optics from Lumigram's fabrics.

A special thank you to Katrine Høvsgaard Nielsen, our 'fashion tech designer' who not only suggested the idea but also helped create to turn the shawl we bought from Lumigram into this beautiful veil.

The technology behind this project is essentially the same as the Touching Booth, when two people connect, they complete a circuit, and light up the veil.

We had to upgrade the Lumigram fabric, which came only with a regular white LED.(±15 lumens) Instead we pushed it to a 140 lumens super powered LED which really lights up veil, even in daylight.

The veil is currently on its way to Brazil so hopefully we'll have loads of photos and hopefully...video from the fashion shows and fairs!

Thank you lovely Yris for everything, we're happy to be working with you again.

Playing with Idemo Bits

Idemo Bits, a photo by geekphysical on Flickr.

Last week we held a workshop at RUC - Humtek and played with Idemolab, great times!

Via Flickr:
From IdemoLab, Delta

BYOB 2012

BYOB 2012, a set on Flickr.

As part of FOKUS 2012 - Video Art Festival we exhibited with BYOB - Bring Your Own Beamer and simplified the Touching Booth to a single touch=photo. Before it was touch = half a photo and then another touch = the rest of the photo. We thought the previous version was more interesting but also proved difficult for people to grasp in a few minutes so we simplified and let people touch the night away.

As an added bonus, we were able to see a live Performance of creating a synth on an overhead projector by http://www.loudobjects.com/ http://www.sciencefriction.dk/

We were invited to this event by Majken from Art Innovation Hub (artinnovation.org) thanks Majken!

Dzl gets an Evil Genius Lair

Okay, so it's only an online lair, but still, points for having one's own Evil Genius Lair. Visit it here: http://dzlsevilgeniuslair.blogspot.com/

Dzl is always working on crazy experiments and inventions that often go unmentioned on this blog because they are not part of a complete project; however, with a background in basic research, it's this type of geekery that leads to amazing projects.

Currently, Dzl is exploring flying robotics and has produced a number of fantastic videos, a flickr stream, (http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekphysical/sets/72157628440857877/) and is posting many times daily.

A great read for those interested in the behind the scenes look at what's going on in our geeky world.