Culture Crawl

Thanks to everyone who came out to say hi and see the wackiness at this year's Eastside Culture Crawl! This is easily one of my favourite events in Vancouver, but it's the first time I've ever participated as an artist.

Photo c/o Katrin

The roster of projects ended up being pretty diverse. In addition to those documented on this blog...

• Craniophage Compaq Portable III
• Wiretap Picture Frame
• Cassettepunk MP3 Player
• Dymaxion Auto-Matic Buckminster Fuller
• Challenger
• Midi Drum Keyboard
• Phonetendo

 ...there were a number of other bits & pieces...

Vacuum tube candlestick

Pocket watch speaker

Fractal fork (with Ingo Breig)

...and much more.

This is the first time I've shown my work in the flesh and the experience was tremendously gratifying. The Culture Crawl is mostly home to "traditional" art forms -- sculpture, painting, photography, etc. -- and people were not expecting to see technology manipulated in this way.

After a brief introduction, though, pretty much everyone "got it" and enjoyed the exhibit. I met some really interesting people and had some great conversations. (For example, I hadn't thought to spoonerize Buckminster Fuller's name.)

With all the creative nerdy energy flowing in Vancouver (think Red Gate [rip?], Vancouver Hackspace, and of course Free Geek Vancouver) I wonder why there isn't more hacker/maker representation at the Culture Crawl. The Mini Maker Faire had plenty. I can only speculate that it might be a voluntary separation of arts by genre, and that strikes me as a tremendous missed opportunity. Until this year there wasn't even a New Media category on the Culture Crawl website. Now there is, so let's get cracking.

I strongly encourage anyone working creatively with technology to consider exhibiting their work next year -- it's a huge amount of exposure (I'd estimate 500 people tromped through for a look), not to mention a firm kick in the ass for anyone who needs an extra push to get motivated.

Deep thanks to Ingo for everything; Graeme and Brad for their help manning the fort; Steph (congratulations!), Heather, Curt, and others for helping keep me fed; Diane and Nick for the plinths; and especially Aida for letting me turn the house upside down for a weekend. Thanks to all the friends who stopped by, whether or not I recognized you in my overcaffeinated and underfed state.

Thanks to all the strangers who stopped in and humoured me. I hope you got humoured too.