“What you need to know first of all about the Madagascar Institute is that it’s not a collective. That sounds too hippy, too delicate, and not dangerous enough. They’re a “combine,” a group dedicated to making the kinds of exploding machines that we often dream up for a second before relegating to the corners of our imagination.
Their nearly impossible sculptures and amusements, live performances, and guerrilla events (think Flaming Soccer, Jet Blenders, Zombie Freak Outs, Death Rattlers, Condiment Wars, Electrified See-Saws, and so on) aren’t created for the turtlenecked contemplation of the museum. They thrive on the big, messy, and inspiring public engagement of the carnival, of the parade, of those moments that slack jaws and get people jumping up and down—and sometimes running for safety. It’s the kind of art that could kill you. But if it’s just bleeding and it’s not from an artery, says co-founder Chris Hackett, then you can’t really complain about it.
Motherboard recently visited Madagascar’s Brooklyn workshop, a lair crowded with reclaimed machines and materials, to get an inside peek at their homebrewed rocket science. Like their Brooklyn awesome-things-making brethren (and Motherboard alums) NYC Resistor, Hackett and his crew earn their “institute” moniker in part by leading workshops and classes for the public, in part by relishing the process and the community that goes into every project (the reasons for “Madagascar” are unclear, but maybe it has something to do with those first three letters). But there’s really nothing institutional about them. There are no rules, no standards or expectations to their ground-breaking and machine-breaking fun. Madagascar’s only premise is simple and really hard to dispute: the world needs jet powered merry-go-rounds.”
A Popular Mechanics article is also in the works. Due out sometime in the summer.
Found on youtube… a little flavor of what the Orchestrion tour will look like. This is what the setup looked like in the studio.
The last few weeks have been spent creating interfaces for live performance and control of the bots. Things happening full steam now as the bots fly to Europe in less than two weeks, us following a few days after. The record comes out January 26th, our first show is scheduled (this and the next day’s gig, on the 31st, same location, are not listed on the site…) for January 30th, in Coutances Theater, Coutances, France.
Prepping up for the Orchestrion tour, Pat practicing one of the pieces from his new album. Surrounding him are the robots, all except two Disklaviers are custom built by Eric Singer and LEMUR (League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots), Ken Caulkins and everyone at Ragtime, Mark Herbert, Cyril Vance, and The Peterson Company.
Currently, we’re working out a method for simple and effective navigation of Ableton Live for live improvisation and composition. Our friends are the faithful keystrokes and Max/MSP patches.
For more info about the tour (and album details) check this out.
Loopda is a hardware/software combo design to give the user 6 tracks of simultaneous looping when paired with a 6 channel or more sound card interface for their computer.
Each red button corresponds to one track, with a push the software will begin recording, with another push the software will play back. The software does not have to be the active window on a computer to function, giving the user the freedom to interlace this with other software, and the ability to use it quickly and intuitively during live performance.
A 6 position knob activates the volume control, start/stop and playback options for each track. The playback options allow for regular playback, half speed playback, or reverse playback, all able to switch on the fly.
There are two versions of the software, a 2 channel output, or 6 channel output. I recommend the 6 channel output to 6 mixer channels, as this will provide the greatest amount of control over each Loopda track, giving one the ability to pan, EQ, and do all types of other things using a mixer allows.
The Electric Bop It is a game for 1 player, testing one’s memory, rhythm and coordination. An adaptation of the classics Simon and Bop It, my take on this game has a bit of a twist: there’s a price to pay for losing.
There are three possible plays – a bop, pressing down on red button; a twist, turning the knob; a bend, contorting the hose atop. An LED and a sound are specific to each of the 3 sensors: A bop is green, a twist is yellow, and a bend is red. The game consists of repeating a specific sequence of bops, twists and bends, starting with one and going until …maybe forever.
With most of the rules out of the way, this cryptic ‘price for losing’ and copper backing of the Electric Bop It may make themselves apparent. The catch is, if you play the sequence back wrong, or take too long to respond, ZAP! What better, and more addictive, way to say ‘better luck next time, sucker!’ Just when discouragement strikes, the game restarts, and what better way to get your frustrations out than trying again?
Made during Physical Computer Class while at ITP, for the Stupid Pet Trick assignment.
Yesterday at Gadgetoff at Snug Harbor, Staten Island, we premiered the pulse-jet powered merry-go-round pony ride.
Built for two riders, the participants sit on saddles of Wild West Pony or Future Pony, horses who have Lockwood pulse-jet engines attached to their backsides.
These engines work off two tanks of propane, one gas, the other liquid. To get one of these jets going you need a spark, provided by a spark plug, then air, by way of a leaf-blower, and finally the propane. When this gets going there is a huge boom, and a very loud and even more so powerful rumbling from the constant propane combustion occurring inside of the combustion chamber. Then run to the other one, do the same, let go and they spin!
Unfortunately, not everyone likes jet engines. Someone complained and a few hours before we were set to run the ride again in the evening, the fire department showed up. It turns out Snug Harbor doesn’t have propane permits. We had to dismantle, as well as a few other rides and features that were propane powered.
We did get two great runs, and the first people to ever ride the thing, Hans, pictured above, and a writer for Popular Mechanics, who I believe is named Seth (at least that’s who wrote the article — ), who did this write up, and posted a video.
Here’s the video:
Tod Seelie’s video of the second ride (click his name for his site and pics of the ride and of Gadgetoff) :
And another one of the second ride:
Also at Gadgetoff, Doyle brought his own take on a jet powered ride, with a spiny wheel chair kind of thing. There were Tesla coils:
