What a great Electric Sky! We cannot thank everyone enough for helping to make it happen, it’s very much a community-driven event, and we are always so inspired by the projects and the on-site collaboration!
Collaboration and Community
Our main goal at Electric Sky is to foster interdisciplinary collaboration in the PNW at the intersections of art, technology, science and design, in the context of a mountain retreat where attendees also meaningfully engage with the beautiful environment of the upper Skykomish river valley. Collaborating, socializing, eating together, having fun together — are all key ingredients of community development.
Workshops
We hosted several workshops, with the goal of supporting life-long learning and community building opportunities. Thanks so much to our workshop hosts, for sharing their knowledge and skills!
Super Natural Art Show
Finally, we ended the event with a pop-up art show on Saturday night around the theme “Super Natural”, structured as an art walk around the Skykomish Ballpark, and asking artists, designers, and tech creatives to examine the space between nature and technology where imagination meets the unknown. Below is a map of the art show and our favorite pictures and videos of the projects.
5. BEACON / WARNINGAndrew Cole & Jeffrey Larson
Every lighthouse exists because something dangerous is nearby, but this one was built before the danger appeared. Historical records describe a tower erected on an empty riverside generations before the first kayak wrecked there. The builders never explained why. They only insisted the light must never stop rotating.
8. BustiersJ.J. Jezebel
11. Church of the Black HoleCarey/Eric/Daniel/Durin/Stacia
Come explore the Church of the Black Hole’s latest public benefit endeavor: a toy lab! Our experienced product marketing department will watch while you interact with our cutting-edge toy technology; and if you’re lucky, you may be a match to be in one of tonight’s consumer testing group for our latest and greatest invention, the Wee Gee!
9. For Rest MirrorLexa Reclaims
Who knows what you will see in the forest mirror, take a look and admire what you see within, without, and around. Is it different than what you expect, what you want? Come back again and see what evolves as the balance between the ambient and mirror lights changes.
1. Glow CartJoseph Gray
A portable projection cart with custom visuals controllers.
7. Honeycomb LightsRon Smith
Honeycomb patterned light tubes.
10. KwalqA Totally Legit Project
The Super Natural god frog known as Kwalq speaks frog in all languages of the earth.
[mobile] Magic Carpet RideSuzanne Dazo & Joel Walters
Let us show you the world of Electric Sky on this magic carpet adorned with ethereal flora created by the community.
6. Mycelium SymphonyJenny & Ty
Beneath every forest floor runs a web of fungal threads_the mycorrhizal network—through which trees share nutrients, chemical warnings, and signals across vast distances. This network is entirely real, entirely active, and completely invisible to us.
3. 90’s Cable SimulatorRage (AKA Rachel)
I’ve used an open source software called “Fieldstation 42” to program a raspberry pi into a cable simulator. The software itself is saved to the Pi’s SD card, and the library of media is referenced from an external drive. FS42 allows you to program channels with schedules, allowing tv shows, movies, and commercial breaks, to play automatically, regardless of the channel you’re watching. Pick up the remote to change the channel!
*GOOD NEWS!* Anyone can download this program themselves and create their own version of a cable simulator! You can find the source code on GitHub, and instructions by the creator at fieldstation42.com. Enjoy!
[mobile] PopUp Puppet KaraokePopagenda
Sing your favorite song with a puppet on your hand, even better with a friend. You can’t lose!
4. Prediction PlatformLysa Christie, Kirk Holland & Britta Baer-Simon
The Prediction platform draws on ancient mysticism from both the East and west, Dodecahedric wisdom, as well as modern pop culture answers to all of your questions about life, the universe, and everything.
2. Remembrance PortalNicholas
A collaborative art experience that allows annoy to contribute trinkets to enter the remembrance portal. All trinkets will be assimilated into the portal. Memories not required. Portal can be tuned to the correct color frequencies willed by the user through the ancient television.
12. Resident FrequencyAdrian / Evan
Signals from the environment create musical and visual source material for an immersive vibe out tent. A multi-node sensor network placed around the site — including a solar powered ESP32 weather and audio station on the Skykomish riverbank, and a second ESP32 reading human energy from the center of the Electric Sky hangout spaces — send 100Hz data streams that converts into MIDI channels and becomes evolving, generative compositions.
THANKS AGAIN
We thank our organizers, volunteers, and creative community for making Electric Sky happen, including the crews of Third Place Technologies and Totally Legit! We also thank 4Culture and the Town of Skykomish for supporting this event. It takes a village to raise a creative retreat and art show!
*photo credits: All photos were provided by attendees, including Shelly Farnham, Daniel Robbins, Andrew Cole, Daisy Yen, Ron Smith, and Joel Walters. Email shelly at third place technologies dot com if you wish to follow up on a particular image.