PAFA Installation

"The Gross Clinic", Thomas Eakins, 1875. Oil on canvas. Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

In conjunction with PAFA After Dark, we are going to be building an installation piece for "Gross Out" on March 31st, 2011. "Gross Out" is an evening gallery opening in honor of Thomas Eakins' "The Gross Clinic"

Goals

• interactive
• take-home element
• late-19th-to-early-20th century (i.e. steampunk) medical theme

Things discussed so far

• remote surgery bot
  • with stereo vision
    • stereopticon mounted in front of computer screen
  • 3-axis gantry
    • DC motors w/ DPDT switches for h-bridges, fixed speed?
    • variable speed control?
• DNA extraction
• upgraded Operation game
  • see "remote surgery bot" above
  • world's smallest Operation game (played under a microscope)
    • actuation mechanisms
      • mechanically unaided (human hand holding tweezers, probe, etc)?
      • mechanically aided?
        • pantograph or other "freehand" approach?
        • screw-based?
        • electric motor-based?
    • methods of manufacture
      • etched PCB?
        • organs could be isolated copper areas to touch with probe
        • organ cavities could be plated thru-holes, with organ at bottom of hole (hole diameter determines organ difficulty)
      • slightly thicker metal with holes drilled for organ cavities (obviates need for plated thru-holes)?
    • Universal Jamming Gripper
      • manual syringe/piston-based vacuum?
      • vacuum pump (electromechanical or hand-powered)?
• "Exquisite Corpse" photo game
• life-sized pin art
  • We could build a human-sized one very easily with 2 pieces of plexiglass, a ton of 1" pvc pipe from my back yard, a spade bit, and some silver spray paint. People can make body-sized impressions.

Other tasks

• banner for front window
• handout flyers
• project documentation/photography

Constraints

• cost
• time
• complexity
• hands

Practicalities

Lessons from Art After Dark on 2/3/2011, seeing how people interacted with the space and with Space 1026, who did a make-your-own-zine activity:

• Show up early! We should start set-up an hour or more before the event if possible
• When the music performance starts, there may be a mass migration to the performance space, leaving 45 min to an hour to get a breather.
• Activities need to be really obvious, and preferably physically large to attract participants.
• We're going to need a lot of people, including a greeter who is dedicated to getting people excited and explaining the activities. Guestimate: greeter, one person per activity, 2 extras for support and relief. So N+3, where N is the number of activities we bring.

(Really No Kidding) Activities Planned For The Event

• Life-sized pin-art
• Exquisite corpse photo game
• Micromanipulator
  • Users scribe tiny words or pictures into dye dried onto microscope slides (take-home)
• Bristlebots