CMU School of Drama


Thursday, May 04, 2017

17 Larger-Than-Life Projects to Behold at the Biggest Maker Faire on Earth

makezine.com: It is no secret that you could easily have your mind blown by just walking around Maker Faire Bay Area, the mothership of all Maker Faires. With roots that date back to the first Maker Faire the world ever saw back in 2006, the twelfth installment of this larger-than-life event will take place in less than a month, from May 19–21 at the San Mateo Fairgrounds.

4 comments:

nick waddington said...

I have gone to the Bay Area Makers Faire almost every year since i was small, and i think its awesome to see it pop up on the green page because it is such an incredible arrangement of artists and makers. in previous visits to the Maker's Faire i have had the opportunity to see exhibits such as the life sized Mouse Trap, the Jack, and the Gear Train, and while i will not be returning to go this year, my parent are and i'm excited to see pictures from their trip.

One of the things i love most about the Maker's Faire is also what i like about Adam Savage's youtube Channel Tested. There is such an obvious love and admiration for the construction of these installations. I couldn't imagine a more exciting way to spend your time than building something like the Pulse Heart, because it is almost like achieving someone's random thoughts and dreams. I wonder if the people who think of these things come up with them just while they are watching tv or working and it just hits them; imagine Mousetrap, just bigger!

Cosette Craig said...

I’m still kicking myself for not attending the maker faire while I lived in east bay. The stuff I’m seeing in these photos is wild. I like the detachment from any reality that “making” offers. It’s sort of like a high budget place for dramatic people to make big useless things that make people go “that’s pretty cool!” It looks like a lot of projects are based on age old puppeteering techniques and concepts. I imagine arcade would look a little like this with more money and more time but alas, here we are, constrained to the third floor of Purnell. I’m wondering if any of these people have practical day jobs or if they just play around with big fish and bugs to make animatronic experiences. Also the life size mouse trap is giving me serious rube nostalgia already. I would love to see how such a massive undertaking like that is facilitated, created and troubleshot.

David Kelley said...

These maker projects are seriously freaking cool. Running the gambit of old school technology to far newer forms of fabration these projects are not just hug but also fairly detailed oriented. Some of my favorites though are the life sized mousetrap game that looks like a rube project on steroids, the vaudeville traveling show is also extremely cool in both the nostalgia and how they manage to keep the stage so self contain where it all fits on the back of that truck is really impressive. But the exhibit that really takes the cake for me is that of the giant fire breathing heart. Why, first it breathes fire enough said, than it does that to the pulse of a human heart but not just any human heart you can hook yourself up to it and watch fire pulse in time with your own racing heart ( assuming your heart racing,because why wouldn't it with a fire breathing heart.) All in all these are damn cool projects I wish I had seen.

Alexa James-Cardenas said...

Well, I have never heard of the Maker Faire Bay Area, and I wish I did sooner because this is truly incredible. First off, flames seem to be a popular theme, which makes me think of what are the safety regulations of the faire, and how the public’s safety is being maintained. But other than safety! I really wanted to talk about the Life-sized Mousetrap, not necessarily because I think it is the coolest attraction feature in the article, but because when I was a little kid I LOVED the game mousetrap and have always wanted to see an actual life-sized version of the fantastic game. It makes me a little sad that the public doesn’t actually get to go on it, but that is understandable, but the flip side to it that it isn’t just some side show to look at the structure, but acrobatics and professionals perform on it! Now imagine cirque doing that (they basically do, but still). I was going to do a list of which ones I like and why, but that ended up being way to long, instead I’m going to make a wish. One day, I wish to have one of my projects to be put into this amazing faire, and to stun and amaze people from all over the world.