El Pulpo Mecanico, and the rest of Beakernight

If you were in Calgary this past week, you may have been lucky enough to experience Beakerhead, a festival fusing art, food, science, and engineering. Check beakerhead.org for more info about the festival itself. I took in a couple events - Beakernight on Saturday, and the inflatable net climbing structure on Friday. If you were here, and didn't go take in any of the events, you really missed out on some awesomely fun stuff. There were far more exhibits and entertainers than those shown here, but enjoy a small sampling in photos.


El Pulpo Mecanico, a 2 storey tall flame throwing octopus truck, that was also seen at Burning Man. SO AWESOME!






The design from which El Pulpo was modelled off of.




Anita and I did an 'assemble your own LED light magnet' thingy (LED bulb, button battery, magnet, and electrical tape).


When completed, we threw them inside a rail container and they stuck to the ceiling, with the end goal being a fully lit up LED interior to represent all that attended Beakernight.


Laser Cat. I think the eyes projected videos onto a giant screen to go along with some DJ's spinning tunes.


Fluorescent art made by growing bacteria that express GFP (green fluorescence protein), and exhibiting them under black light.


A sound installation where each fibre optic was attached to a vibration sensor, which would then chime when it sensed any touch.




An interesting percussion instrument made from PVC(?) tubes. It was able to generate a surprisingly rich amount of notes.












A multilevel inflatable net climbing structure. So much fun!






#Beakernight #El Pulpo Mecanico #Beakerhead