The five days of Beakerhead officially get rolling today with the world’s largest pop-up gallery, called a String (Theory) of Incredible Encounters, with a circumference of five kilometres.
The series of public art installations is an exploration in creativity at the crossroads of art, science and engineering, and can be seen by touring from Inglewood to East Village to Victoria Park, 17th Ave and Kensington. The home base or hub for Beakerhead this year is at Station B (the Beakerhead moniker for installations at Fort Calgary).
Station B is home to two other massive firsts – a 30-foot high version of the arcade claw game, and a 6,400 square foot sandbox – all designed to inspire human ingenuity.
Beakerhead 2015 event will erupt on the streets and venues of Calgary from September 16 to 20, and includes more than 160 collaborators and 60 public events, ranging from theatre where the audience is dining as part of the show to installations where you walk through a human nose. More than 25,000 students will be engaged in Beakerhead through field trips, classroom visits and ingenuity challenges.
“Four years ago, Suncor decided to support Beakerhead because they celebrate and foster learning and collaboration between science, arts and technology in wonderful and innovative ways,” says Gary Bunio, general manager, strategic technology, Suncor. “This incredible event has done just that and shown us that the possibilities are larger than any of us can imagine when you bring together engineers and artists, and unleash the creative talent in both.”
The five-day long event attracts residents and tourists from around the world. Visitors will encounter a number of international debuts, such as a 35-feet tall inflatable artwork named The Fabulist, an interactive light installation called Up Above, So Below, a 10,000 mushroom block installation called In/Flux, and the international premiere of part science, part musical show, called the Rock ‘n Roll History of Space Exploration.
Wayne Chiu, Executive Chair of the Trico Charitable Foundation
“We are pleased to be a partner of the Beakerhead for a Better World exhibits, celebrating how science, engineering and art can expand our minds, engage our senses, and solve the planet’s most challenging social problems.” -Wayne Chiu
To learn more about Beakerhead’s third year line-up, visit Beakerhead.com.
