Category: Creativity Lab

2024 Theme: Sun Wind Water

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Each year we orient our collaborative installations, workshops, and Saturday night art show around a theme. We are pleased to announce for 2024 our theme is Sun Wind Water — inviting participants to explore the use of renewable energies in their projects.

As we consider a future that is more ecologically resilient with clean energy, we ask artists, designers, and creative technologists to explore projects that are both technological — with sound, movement, and lighting — yet unplugged from a power grid. In other words, how can we integrate renewable energies into our art, using technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines, and water batteries? Or perhaps more directly, how might we leverage the sun, wind, and water as creative mediums that animate our installations?

How it Works

For our group show, we provide a basic framework around the theme, and then recruit artists, technologists, scientists, and designers to take on aspects of that theme, playing with technologically-infused, sensing, interactive and self-illuminated elements.

In the style of hackathons, you may bring your own piece to work on, you may join other emergent collaborations, or you may just show up to enjoy the show. Projects are shared during our Saturday night art show and party, which is open to the public.

Participating artists and technology creatives may include light, sound, video, performance, landscaping, architectural elements, in addition to visual art, however we encourage all projects incorporate an electronic, sensing, interactive, or self-illuminated component, to be experienced outdoors at night.

Art grants were available to $500 for material project support or subsidized tickets, learn more here. The deadline was Friday April 26 (now past).

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

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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.

Thanks and Wrapping Up 2017

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This years’ Electric Sky was a resounding success and we cannot thank everyone enough for your active participation!  (For more imagery, check out our summarizing slide show or  see our video).
Our primary goal with this event is to foster the community of creatives at the intersection of art and technology in the Pacific Northwest – building collaborative relationships, developing best practices, engaging in life-long learning, and inspiring new innovation.  Our secondary goal is to share the art generated by the event with the public, and in particular with the small rural communities of the Skykomish River valley.

Reactive Path

Reactive Path

Ripples

Ripples

creativity lab

creativity lab

CNC Workshop

CNC Workshop

This year we organized our collaborative efforts around the “Wondering Woods” theme, exploring what if the woods could talk?  What if they can sense you and respond?  As a part of this effort we hosted a pre-event workshop instructing artists and tech creatives how to use sensors, and at the event we had a CNC router workshop and a project-based workshop for kids to engage with the environment and integrate sound into a group installation.  We also hosted an open creativity lab to encourage emergent on-site collaboration in the style of hackathons.  A total of 71 art and tech creatives attended, including 12 kids, and 40-50 visitors from the region came to our opening night party.

Bluuume

Bluuume

Time Vortex

Time Vortex

The Lordly Ones

The Lordly Ones

The Lordly Ones Closeup

The Lordly Ones Closeup

This was our third year, and thanks in large part to our grant from 4Culture, which we used to fund new projects, we observed the depths of the interdisciplinary collaborations and the quality of the art achieve a new level.  Electric Sky is evolving into not only an art and tech retreat, but a new works incubator.   We are very happy to report that we have been invited as a collective to return to both Lusio and Arts-a-Glow to share our Wondering Woods installation with thousands more in Seattle and Burien.

Opening Night party

Opening Night party

Electric Sky

Electric Sky

Do you want to see more? Check out our summarizing slide show.
Part I shows overview of the Electric Sky event, and Part II shows the “Wondering Woods” art.
Some of the art was animated, interactive, or included sound, so we made a 2-minute video with some highlights.  See our video.

In the Lab

In the Lab

Life-long Learning and Mentorship

Life-long Learning and Mentorship

Path Lighting

Path Lighting

Borealis Break

Borealis Break

Here are some more photos shared by community members:
Shelly Farnham.
Jole Sack.
Leo Spizzirri.
Elizabeth Ostasiewski
If you are excited by what you see, why wait until next year to get involved? Check out our community page.

Wrap up and Slides of the Luminous Garden at Electric Sky 2016

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The Luminous Garden – an otherworldly garden biosphere, one with luminous flora and fauna and interactive kinetic sculptures — was a collaborative group installation at Electric Sky that helped to orient people’s projects during the event.  The design framework and insfruscture were provided by Recreational Light and Magic, a Totally Legit LLC.   It was funded in part by 4Culture, and sponsored by Third Place Technologies and the Town of Skykomish.

Please see our summary slideshow of the experience, which simulates taking a walk through the garden: http://www.slideshare.net/ShellyDFarnhamPhD/take-a-virtual-walk-through-the-luminous-garden

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Our basic framework was to provide an overarching experiential design theme “taking a walk in an otherworldly garden arboretum”, and then recruit other artists, technologists, scientists, and designers to take on aspects of that theme, playing with technologically infused, interactive and self-illuminated organic objects or sculptural garden elements.

A primary goal was to foster interdisciplinary collaboration through a larger group installation, and we feel we were quite successful. We had 19 participating projects and over 80 artists, technologists, and designers actively collaborating, learning from each other and creating inspiring works.  It was very well received by locals in Skykomish at Electric Sky, and later enjoyed by thousands when installed later in the summer at Lusio (Volunteer Park) and  Arts-a-Glow (Burien).

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Electric Sky Mad Fun, Thanks and Wrap Up

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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!