Mens Amplio – interactive art and education

Some of our tenants have taken a leap and they are discovering new inspiration in the combination of using their art for educational purposes.  For the last couple months they have been building a giant human brain (Mens Amplio), operated with an EEG machine, registering brain waves in 15 ft fire and LED light effects. Bringing to life science, math, engineering, construction, and wave theory, their design is poetry in  motion. For many it would have been enough to simply build this beautiful machine. For the Department of Spontaneous Combustion,  the easy road never seems to be enough.  From opening their doors every Tuesday night to teach people the basics and an introduction to the fabricating arts  (7-9pm if you want to come play!) they have found even greater inspiration. Now they are determines to bring the joy of learning that those who have come to their weekly open shops to local Oakland Youth. We managed to catch Kali Snowden in a moment between her personal art projects and her work on Mens Amplio to capture what they are trying to do.  Here’s what she had to say:

mens-amplio_004“We’ve built giant steel sculptures covered in computer controlled light shows before, but this piece has opened up a new possibility for us: Mens Amplio is going to allow us to use our art to show children the wonder that is their own mind. As we were going through the process of designing the techniques and systems we would need to build the project, we were approached by a local school principal who wanted to know if we could show her students the piece in the fall.  The possibilities for teaching kids in of all ages about the design and fabrication of the sculpture, how it works, and what it shows about the brain include art, math, chemistry, biology, electronics, and a range of other subjects. Traditionally as kids, we learn each of these subjects exclusively. Here, we have a chance to create a hands on educational experience that combines and emphasizes how art and technology can work together. Not only is it possible to create something engaging and artistic that is also educational, but this is something big that we are building with our hands. The potential to excite students about these subjects with a giant LED and fire sculpture that they can control with their brains is immeasurable.

An article on Mens Amplio was recently featured by Ignite.me, read it HERE     Help support their project HERE