Confirmed Electric Sky 2019 Date and Theme: BioZoom on July 25-28

We are happy to confirm our 2019 Electric Sky will be Thu-Sun, July 25-28th, and our collaborative installations will be oriented around the theme “Bio Zoom”. It will be a year of art, tech and science, and we invite you to explore how changing perspectives –whether through a microscope or a telescope — exposes the beautiful, abstract, often fractal, repeating patterns of the universe.

Learn more about the theme and how you can join the collaborations

Apply for support in the form of free tickets or budget to cover costs, deadline April 30th 2019

Register to save your camping spot! Note no registration required for day visitors.

Get Support for Your Digital Frontier Project! Call for Participation 2018

For Electric Sky 2018,  our collaborative installation will be oriented around the theme “The Digital Frontier”,  celebrating the pioneering spirit of those who push the bounds of possibility by innovating on the frontier of technology.

For this group installation, our basic framework is to provide an overarching design theme “Explore recurring historical themes of human progress on the frontiers of innovation, layering the past with the future”, and then recruit artists, technologists, scientists, and designers to take on aspects of that theme, playing with technologically-infused, sensing, interactive and self-illuminated sculptural elements.  Learn more about the Digital Frontier here.

Call for Participation — Apply for a Microgrant!

If you are excited by the idea of creating an individual or collaborative project around our theme “the Digital Frontier” we invite you to apply to be a supported participating artist or creative technologist, to receive free tickets and funds to support your project. Participating artists and technology creatives may include visual art, sound, video, performance, landscaping, architectural elements, and so forth, however all projects should incorporate an electronic or interactive component consistent with the theme.   Learn more about our requirements and find instructions to apply here.  Application date is April 30th, 2018.

Please note that Electric Sky is designed as a cross between a hackathon and an artists’ retreat, so it is a great place to incubate new work in our Creativity Lab, with the help and expertise of fellow artists and creative technologists.  We strongly encourage you to participate whether or not you apply for a grant.  This is the place to explore very experimental projects that you are still figuring out.

Electric Sky Mad Fun, Thanks and Wrap Up

It was an amazing event, thanks so much to the 70+ people who joined the fun at Electric Sky!  Our creativity lab was a madhouse of electronics, laptops, arduinos, LEDs, lasers, 3D printers, etc., mixed in with the more traditional array of arts & crafts supplies.   The weather was beautiful and extremely hot, so folks were excited to intersperse their art & tech “projecting” with relaxing moments splashing around in the river, and people were working into the wee hours of the morning in the creativity lab.

As a community event it would not have been possible without everyone’s help, including set up, take down, the workshop organizers, the logo and web design, the group meal, clean up, etc..– so thanks so much to everyone, including the Town of Skykomish for letting us use their beautiful ball park, and the Totally Legit art group for letting us use their electronics/crafts supplies!

  • Josh and Chris’ 3D printer workshop generated a lot of interest — for those interested Josh posted his notes in our public Facebook page, find them here.
  • Shelly’s full set of photos are posted in an Electric Sky private Facebook group (since there were many kids at the event) ask to join and check them out here.
  • Jose Sack posted some great photos here.
  • Be sure to check out Katerina’s “Exostesis” video.
  • On the whole, people really enjoyed the experience so we will definitely do it again next year!

A closer look at the kitchen.

Here are a few pictures of the kitchen area, to help those who might want to use it for cooking plan accordingly.

Front view of the kitchen area.

Front view of the kitchen area.

The outdoor kitchen area has two fridges, two stoves, a sink, some tables -- and electricity.

The outdoor kitchen area has two fridges, two stoves, a sink, some tables — and electricity.

A grill, uses fire wood.

A grill, uses fire wood.

Prototyping the Reactive Lamps

We made great progress prototyping the reactive lamp setup we’ll be using for the Electronic Art: Reactive Lamps workshop, including an Arduino, an RGB ring, and a motion detecting sensor. We also had a couple of people go through the sequence of installing the sample software and tweaking it for our setup. We then handed over the electronics to Dan Hull, an industrial designer who’s creating a housing unit for the electronics using a 3D printer.

Prototype of the reactive lamp

Prototype of the reactive lamp

Flora arduino, optimized for wearable projects

Flora arduino, optimized for wearable projects

Sensor/compass, detects movement

Sensor/compass, detects movement

Neopixel Ring (controllable RGB LEDs)

Neopixel Ring (controllable RGB LEDs)