Music, Aerials and Interactive Art at SBCAST

By Robert Bernstein

SBCAST is the Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science and Technology. A gift to our community by local technology wizard Alan Macy. Alan Macy is currently the Research and Development Director, past President and a founder of BIOPAC Systems, Inc.

His designs are on the border of art, science and technology. As one example, he makes chairs that respond to your breathing and heartbeat by making synchronized sounds and movements.SBCAST is a live and work environment where guest creators can stay and have studio space to make innovative creations.

Here are a few of my videos and photos from two recent events there.

On May 21 local recording company We’wey Records had a series of music performances.

As the musicians played, silk aerialists from Elevated Dreams performed nearby.

Candice Perez is one of the newer silk aerialist students and she performed in public for the first time.

Student Ellie Naftaly performed twice while I watched. This was a short clip of her first performance.

Here was student Carly Simon-Gersuk’s performance.

Their teacher is Olivia Davi and she did multiple performances. Here was one that I recorded.

All of the music you hear as they are performing is original live music by the We’wey musicians.

Meighann Athena Helene is one of the artists in residence at SBCAST who helped organize the event and she invited me and kindly posed for a photo.

Hammies Clothing designer Sarah Nestor posed with her daughter.

Less than two weeks later the UCSB Media Arts and Technology (MAT) Lab displayed the end of year projects of their students at SBCAST on June 2. Coinciding with First Thursday.

Alexis Story Crawshaw demonstrated her “Friendship Machine”. Two people hold devices which send signals to her artistic system. If the people get closer and/or move in synchrony the visualizations and auditory creations become stronger and more complex.

In one large gallery was a demonstration of a device that dispensed fragrances and produced ever-changing patterns on the wall interactively. This father-daughter team was trying it out.

This device drew figures loosely based on what a participant drew on the touch pad. But a second participant was invited to interact directly with the drawing pen as well.

In our strange new Zoom world, I had the pleasure of meeting Nikki Johnson who collaborates with one of my work colleagues. We had never met in person, so I was happy that she spotted me and introduced herself!