“Looks like the love child of Rube Goldberg and P.D.Q. Bach.”  -The Boston Globe 

The Steam Brain Activates - percussion and contraption design by Eric Farber

 

–fall of 2015–

FUTURITY

had its off-Broadway debut

co-produced by ARS Nova & SoHo Repertory Theater

at The Connelly Theater, NYC

 

FUTURITY on the cover of American Theater Magazine

This NPR interview from March, 2012 explores the percussion contraptions that I built for FUTURITY in collaboration with The American Repertory Theater.

–Here’s a link to the American Theater Magazine article, written by Rob Weinert-Kendt

Here’s an in depth interview from April, 2012 conducted by Philip Bither (curator for performing arts at Walker Art Center, MN) with FUTURITY co-creators César Alvarez, Emily Orling, and myself.

 

Pennsylvania

 

The Music Box

 

The Singer

 

The Walking Legs

 

Building kinetic percussion with master welders – photos of my summer sessions at the ART Scene Shop

The Hourglass – right before we cut into it

The Hourglass - after getting cut into shape and mounted onto its stand.  Some other cool stuff in the background

An early version of Pennsylvania – the 3 stylus’ on the center wheel weren’t striking the grill from the appropriate angle to get the right sound.  We dismantled this version and focused our efforts on converting the circular motion of the hand crank (part of an old dough mixer) into linear motion that would scrape the grill vertically.

The War Hammer and The War Shield

The metal rectangle mounted to the top is my music stand, but hopefully I’ll commit the show to memory and won’t need it!


 

The Question Concerning Technology by Martin Heidegger, 1954 (.pdf)

“The question concerning technology is the question concerning the constellation in which revealing and concealing, in which the coming to presence of truth, comes to pass.  But what help is it to us to look into the constellation of truth?  We look into the danger and see the growth of the saving power.” -Martin Heidegger [QCT p. 33 - trans. Lovitt]