The Evolving Contraption

Wormholes, an exploration of space and time using do-it-yourself technology activated by audience participation, was the first of three projects by the League of Imaginary Scientists at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

“Playing with complicated scientific ideas, the League of Imaginary Scientists uses Wormholes to posit a way in which time travel is, in fact, possible. The work employs digital technology and the platform of a videogame to move museum-goers virtually, such that they are able to exist in two places at once. Participants are registered as space travelers, photographed and then led through a series of tunnels containing stations that mark the progress of their journey. As they ‘travel’ they are given double agency and a duel perspective on their own image. The final stop is a console on which each participant’s likeness is projected, and he or she is able to interact with and protect it as it makes its own journey through a wormhole.”
— Gallery Guide

The Evolve-You Machine, part of the Automatoggler, presents a playful misinterpretation of the future of evolution by asking participants in groups of 3 to align with projected silhouettes. In the initial installation, a team of 2-8 additional participants would interact with the machine by pressing buttons, pulling levers, etc. These actions would drive changes to the projections around the ‘frozen’ participants. The animated changes to the silhouettes would connect the 3 would-be posthumans through (sometimes archaic) machines. Because of the modular nature of the animation, the original installation could have thousands of possible outcomes.

“The Automatoggler sets up situations in which technology mediates viewers’ experiences and their consequent interactions with both the League and each other. The artwork encourages participants to ponder the increasingly machinelike nature of human contact and existence, especially in light of such developments as the Internet, virtual reality, and digital interfaces- platforms for the conflation of real and imagined space.”
— Gallery Guide

The Zephyr Experiment invited gallery participants to explore different ways of floating and flying, combining aesthetics with aerodynamics.

The Zephyr experiment included stations for building and launching model airplanes, turning into birds, and floating and flying a wide variety of materials (ping pong balls, bubbles and Dr. Schleidan). The evening culminated with the launch of the Largest Paper Airplane Ever Constructed (By the League of Imaginary Scientists).

“A testing lab of experimental aircraft spans two levels, where visitor-built prototypes may be flown or floated. The Incredible Floating Dr. Schleidan instructs visitors to ‘operate with vigor’ a contraption that will levitate a League member. In combining the factual with the fanciful, The Zephyr Experiment opens up the rigorous process of scientific inquiry to artistic invention and play”
— Gallery Guide

Crew

Created by The League of Imaginary Scientists
Lucy HG Solomon, Steve Shoffner, Jeremy Speed Schwartz, Leonard Trubia, Matt Solomon

Software, Animation: Jeremy Speed Schwartz
Graphic Design: Lucy HG Solomon

Support from James Irvine Foundation Award for Southern California Art Collectives