A short video showing off our early software design for our latest project, Syzygryd.

The sequencer and the display layer are written in Processing, the iPods are running touchOSC by hexler, and the computer making the noise is running Ableton Live with Native Instruments’ Massive. We’re working on getting better sounds set up for it, now that we have the software generally functioning.

Thanks a ton to Audrey, Yosh, and Nicole for editing, and Ian for filming.

Timescale is a new project from Ardent Heavy Industries, the not-fire-centric parent group to Interpretive Arson. Timescale is a journey through 4.57 billion years of planet Earthâ€s geological and biological evolution, extended across one mile (5280 feet) of open playa. Beginning with the formation of the Earth from a cloud of gas and dust, participants will traverse through time — advancing two million years with each footstep, culminating at the present day. Each chapter in Earthâ€s growth is highlighted along the way, allowing participants to appreciate the transformation of our planet and the exponential complexity of living things. Each chapter in Earth’s history will be a 6.5ft tall 8in x 8in column of concrete with art representative of that chapter inside.

The proposal for Timescale was recently submitted to the BMORG for funding. I’ll let Morley explain this unique proposal:

Hello fabulous beautiful creative people!

I’m very very excited to share with you the fruits of many weeks of devoted effort on the part of myself, Nicole, Ian, Star, Colin, Nina, Brody, Reed, Ramon, Ed, CTP, and countless friends and reviewers:

http://www.timescaleproject.com/proposal

Last Thursday night, Nicole and I submitted the hard copy of our proposal at BMHQ. The hard copy, in this case, consisting of a 12″ concrete cube, hollow down the center, with a 52.8 ft long rope inside, marked out at 1/100 scale of the final project. The cube was finished top and bottom with mild steel plates, with the printed/bound proposal mounted atop the top plate under a piece of clear 1/4″ acrylic. And the whole heavy shebang was held in a lovely rope sling with wooden handles, fashioned by the ever-talented Ian.

Rocks and concrete and love,

Morley

Timescale Project Website

photos by Nicole

Next come the high-pressure air and nitrogen-pushed propane systems.  Just because we said it’s safe doesn’t mean it’s simple…

This is a picture of the complete engine.  From left to right, you see the nozzle (including diverging and converging sections), the combustion chamber which contains a titanium flame holder, the fuel injector, and the injector cap.  Air and propane enter and mix inside the flame holder.  Meanwhile, a bunch more air is injected outside the flame holder.  The entire mass of combustion gases are heated to about 1000C, and ejected from the engine at Mach 2.5.  At least, in theory.  We still have to build it.

The fingers are a performance tool that hasn’t really been out much. There is, however, a photoset of Audrey using them to immolate her former uniform from the gelateria where she used to work. We’re hoping to use then at the Fire Ballet, if I can get the gloves to fit the performer.

Recently, Sharp introduced new extra-long-range infrared proximity sensors that rock the house better, harder, faster, and yes, stronger than any sensors like it. We got a hold of a few for testing, and decided that it was a perfect opportunity to upgrade 2Ï€r! But we didn’t want to simply hack them in to our current setup! With the experience we’ve gained from running 2Ï€r at various events across the western US, we decided to go right back to the drawing board and rework the whole platform. It’s now shorter, sleeker, and incorporating a swanky design accent, as well as containing the glory of the new sensors.

The first step of a project like this is to draw it out, and recently at IA, we’ve taken to drawing everything out in CAD before buying any of the materials. This leads to a lot less waste, and helps to overcome some of the possible design challenges early on. As such, the last few weeks have had numerous meetings and work sessions to really hammer down what we want this thing to be.

I’m excited to share these images with everyone, so I’ve created a flickr set with all the various layers of the file separated out into individual images.

Enjoy!