Experiment Weekend on State Street

By Robert Bernstein

Experiment Weekend was the latest creative approach to reinvigorating lower State Street in Santa Barbara.

Here are my videos and photos from the occasion.

It began last Friday evening with artistic light shows and exhibits in the State Street underpass below the freeway!

In this video I wandered around the various exhibits to sample them all

Some daytime street scenes were projected on the roof of the underpass.

There was also an interactive display on the wall created by people moving around in the street.

Local scientist and artist Alan Macy is the founder of Biopac which creates devices that respond to variations in the human body. One of these devices is a chair with feathered wings that slowly flap in 
synchrony with the heartbeat of the person in the chair. Here is a short video of this

Another video shows a setup where sound into a microphone vibrates a pool of water to make light patterns on the ceiling.

Another art piece was a giant interactive kaleidoscope that projected on the ceiling. A popular image was created by sticking hands in front of it. Another piece projected jellyfish floating across the ceiling.

The whole area was magically transformed and drew quite a crowd for hours!

I am not sure how others heard about this event. I found out at the last minute from my friend Christa who created the Bike Fashion Show for CycleMAYnia. The next morning I visited Christa at her work in the same neighborhood

Then I ventured out to see the Experiments in the street!

Mayor Cathy Murillo was on hand to inspire others to draw on coloring panels in the street

Then I came to a petting zoo with a variety of interesting animals to pet. I saw guinea pigs, chickens, ducks, rabbits…

and even some turtles!

With State Street closed to traffic, people had fun playing basketball in the street

And ping-pong, too

Woodies at the Beach happens each summer over at City College. They took this opportunity to give a preview of some beautiful woodies!

And, of course, there was plenty of music! A musician every hundred feet or so!

Ellyette Iverson was the logistics coordinator for the event and she kindly posed for a photo

Staff people also were asking people to complete surveys of how they liked the event. If it is popular in the community and among the local business owners Experiment Weekend is likely to become a regular event!