This is the blog of Kal Spelletich. CONTACT: Spellkal (at) gmail.com + Art, technology, humans and robots, and, well, the journey http://www.kaltek.org/
Machine Philharmonic: We will build a robotic ensemble orchestra that the students and sensors operate. A video of the Kalrsruhe landscape will be created for a score for us to follow for a final performance…the score will start underwater and soar into space via drones and telescopes.
Cologne, Odonien Art Compound: May 12-14-2023 Scaling the cosmos: The audience and I will be sending audio signals on a laser beam up to several kilometers and installing up to 100 tubes of neon for Inter galactic communication. This work will be visible from DEEP space and to be interpreted by higher order organisms.
Berlin: May 20-2023 Robotic sound machine live performance.Berlin Performance-I am creating soundscapes to videos (landscape video as score) using sounds machines I have made.. I will create new videos in each city. The videos are of the sun, stars, moon, waterways, trees, grass, ants. So we will hear the moon, sun and ants. This is a form of Celestial art and sonification inquiry into Landscape. The Audience will get to operate the sound machines with me.There WILL be Special Guests!-Deutsch – english below
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DIENSTbar presentsElektronischer Hörgenuss XV
CiTiZEN KiNO & Kal Spelletich’s Machine Philharmonic with Guests
Saturday – 20. May 2023 – Doorsr: 19:30 – Events: 20:00Jugend[widerstands]museum Galiläakirche – Rigaer Str. 9/10 – 10247 Berlin-Friedrichshain
Kal Spelletich’s Machine Philharmonic with Guests
The Machine Philharmonic are artist-built sound robots the audience collaboratively operates.A video score shot locally works as a prompt to operate the robots.Some local materials, stones & branches, are used to build the Machine Philharmonic.Kal Spelletich is considered one of the pioneers of machine art and is musically known for Seemen and collaborations on Survival Research Laboratories, Butthole Surfers, dancers, filmmakers, poets, Danielle Depiccioto and Alexander Hacke.With programmer and hacker legend Mitch Altman, creator of TV-B-Gone, is working on brain-machine interfaces under the name Split Brain Robotics.„Kal Spelletich is an anarchist activist, prankster. He is a technological visionary, factory worker, union organizer, educator, and guerrilla gardener, has exhibited all over the world: from Africa to India and everywhere in between, came from America’s rust belt, lived on the streets, hustled and dealt, joined the factory line and earned two university degrees, collaborated with the likes of the Butthole Surfers to NASA, been in feature films and television and is a award-winning mad-scientist.
DIENSTbar präsentiert Elektronischer Hörgenuss XVCiTiZEN KiNO & Kal Spelletich’s Machine Philharmonic with GuestsSamstag – 20. Mai 2023 – Tür: 19:30 – Aufführungen: 20:00Jugend[widerstands]museum Galiläakirche – Rigaer Str. 9/10 – 10247 Berlin-FriedrichshainLive Soundtracks Elements von Paolo PodrescuKal Spelletich’s Machine Philharmonic with GuestsDie Machine Philharmonic sind von Künstlern gebaute Klangroboter, die mit dem Publikum gemeinschaftlich bedient werden.Eine vor Ort aufgenommene Videopartitur dient als Aufforderung um die Roboter zu bedienen.Für den Bau der Maschinenphilharmonie werden lokale Materialien wie Steine und Zweige verwendet.Kal Spelletich gilt als einer der Pioniere der Maschinen-Kunst und musikalisch bekannt durch Seemen und der Zusammenarbeit an Survial Reserach Laboratories, Butthole Surfers, Scratch Acid, sowie Danielle Depiccioto and Alexander Hacke.Mit dem Programmierer und Hackerlegende Mitch Altman, dem Erfinder der TV-B-Gone, arbeitet er an Gehin-Maschinen-Interfaces unter den Namen Split Brain Robotics.„Kal Spelletich ist ein anarchistischer Aktivist und Witzbold. Er ist ein technologischer Visionär, Fabrikarbeiter, Gewerkschaftsorganisator, Pädagoge, Guerilla-Gärtner, hat auf der ganzen Welt ausgestellt: von Afrika bis Indien und überall dazwischen, kam aus dem amerikanischen Rostgürtel, lebte auf der Straße, gaunerte und dealte, ging in die Fabrik und erwarb zwei Universitätsabschlüsse, arbeitete mit Leuten wie den Butthole Surfers und der NASA zusammen, wirkte mit in Spielfilmen und im Fernsehen und ist ein preisgekrönter verrückter Wissenschaftler.”https://kaltek.wordpress.comhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kal_Spelletichhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_Altmanhttp://dienstbar.nethttps://widerstandsmuseum.de/kultur-am-dorfplatz
November 4th, 2022 – January 28th, 2023 Telematic Media Arts is pleased to present Galactic Scale Inquiries into the Nature of the Cosmos, an exhibition of robotics, lasers, and sensor-based systems by Kal Spelletich, responding to science’s extraordinary contributions to visual culture and knowledge. At a time when the authority of critical thinking has been crudely dismissed, Spelletich probes fundamental scientific discoveries in playful and sometimes menacing ways. At the same time, his interactive sculptures emphasize the fact – revealed by the recent rise of misinformation — that the authority of science is not sustained by science itself, but rather depends upon a collective, social commitment to the pursuit of knowledge and the truth. In this way, the show is political, sparking minds and activating audiences by engaging them in a reflective practice that bridges art, science, social consciousness, and philosophy in pursuit of a shared understanding. Gallery hours: Saturdays, 1:00 – 6:00pm Or almost anytime, by appointment (just call ahead!): 415.336.2349 323 10th St. at Folsom (SoMA), SF, CA info@tttelematiccc.com | @tttelematiccc !!!!A very big huge thanks To Telematic Director Clark Buckner!!!
I celebrate the scientific method and reference foundational scientific discoveries. This is a body of work I have been doing for well over 15 years. Imagine my surprise when a Nobel prize(1) was given out this week for these same mind-boggling experiments I am extrapolating on (entangled particles). We will be able to hear the moon, sonify crystals, and see and feel the speed of light. Another main focus is the work of astrophysicist Jocelyn Burnell. (2.)
Special Related Events: Gallery talk Saturday December 10, 3:00 a live in person in the gallery WITH KAREN MARCELO ….. Also live streamed! via dorkbot san francisco People doing strange things with electricity http://dorkbotsf.org/
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Performance:
Saturday, January 28, 2023, 3-4P.M.
Closing event robot, sound machine performance with Bryan Day.
Telematic Media Arts is pleased to present Galactic Scale Inquiries into the Nature of the Cosmos, an exhibition of robotics, lasers, and sensor-based systems by San Francisco artist Kal Spelletich. In this body of work, Spelletich responds as an artist to science’s extraordinary, transformative contributions to visual culture and knowledge. Reconstructing scientific tools and experiments with light, stones, sound, metal, video, and machines, his kinetic sculptures and installations explore the sublime dimensions and durations of astronomy, geology, and physics. He highlights their explosion of experience’s everyday parameters, evoking wonder in the face of nature and raising the question of our place in the universe. At a time when the authority of science has been crudely dismissed and critical thinking has given way to groundless conspiracy theories, Spelletich explores fundamental scientific discoveries and the weight of their hold on the world. The project is rooted in the history of science, drawing inspiration from the ancient figures of Pythagoras and Gan De; the early modern Leonardo, Newton, and Galileo; and the underappreciated heroes of 20th-Century astronomy and astrophysics, Jocelyn Burnell and Vera Rubin, among others. At the same time, Spelletich’s work emphasizes the fact – revealed by the recent rise of misinformation — that the authority of science is not sustained by science itself, but rather depends upon a collective, social commitment to the pursuit of knowledge and the truth. His kinetic sculptures and installations are interactive. They respond to the physical presence of bodies in space, and they require the audience to engage them. In this way, the show is political, sparking minds and activating audiences by engaging them in a reflective practice that bridges art, science, social consciousness – even philosophy – in the pursuit of a shared understanding.
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There will be robots, photographic prints, sound summoning apparati, a bronze casting of the moon, drawings, a laser carved image/object of an astrolabe to name a few of said inquiries.
The laser carving of the astrolabe is a limited edition of 10 Priced for my friends at $300.00. (see enclosed picture below #4)
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https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2022/press-release/ On Oct. 4, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that Alain Aspect, John Clauser, and Anton Zeilinger had won for “groundbreaking experiments using quantum states, where two particles behave like a single unit even when they are separated.” The academy noted that these experiments, which built upon the 1960s research of John Stewart Bell, cleared the way for new technology such as quantum computers. Two days later, Scientific American published an in-depth article that explained how these quantum experiments proved “the universe is not locally real.”
Burnell Is responsible for one of the most important astrophysics discoveries of the 20th century: the radio pulsar. The discovery, which she made as a graduate student, earned a Nobel Prize in 1974. And it could one day form the basis of a “galactic positioning system” for navigating outside our solar system. But Bell Burnell didn’t collect the Nobel. Instead, the award went to her supervisor at the University of Cambridge, Antony Hewish. She is now recognized as the pioneer who made this breakthrough discovery.
I did a talk at Telematic Gallery where I have an exhibit up through the end of January. It was more like I drank champagne with some of the best and brightest of the Bay Area’s mind trust. SEE HERE: https://vimeo.com/781911687
Luckily it isn’t ALL me and I was able to get some great comments and observations from, let’s see, Steven Wolfe, Camille Utterbach, KAREN MARCELLO, Eric Paulos, Mark Van Proyen to name a few….. And some great questions and comments from the Dorkbot crowd. The speed of light, the crazy powers of lasers, Deep space and time measured by misusing technology, sensors and robotics!
I did a walk through of the show, all the way into the bathroom for a special peek at work installed there! There’s a pause in the video, Fast forward it for a final few gems near the end. The show goes till Jan 28 2023 – check it out! There’s more info on it from Clark @ Telematic: Galactic Scale Inquiries into the Nature of the Cosmos https://www.tttelematiccc.com/galactic-scale-inquiries-into-the-nature-of-the-cosmos Robotics, Lasers, and Sensor-Based Systems by Kal Spelletich
-We are here for such a short time, don’t waste that time-
Here is one short composition of 9 I did at ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany on July 1, 2022. The Project is called Soundscaping Karlsruhe. I did a workshop with folks where I directed them to shoot 10 videos that acted as scores to a sound performance with robotic instruments and local bio inputs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9jMdBeXDdc&feature=youtu.be I am creating soundscapes to videos (landscape video as score) using the local environment. The videos conducts volunteers and I when to operate my sound machines/robots. Sensors that harvest data from the earth, local plants, a rock, bird songs to the moon will also cause the robots to perform sounds. The videos are shot from underground reaching up to the stars. This is a form of Celestial art and sonification inquiry into Landscape. To not look down upon to spy or judge but to interact and try to understand. The collaborators get to operate the sound machines with me.
Here I am collaborating with the Amazing Yifan Su, she shot the video and is performing along with it.
Here we have the Fabulous Mitch Altman and me performing at X-Hain on July 8, 2022, in Berlin, Germany. I made about an hour of videos of Berlin landscapes as a score we performed with/to. We made a soundscape according to what and when the video landscapes told us. For instance, Clouds, Trees, the Sun, or Birds clue us when to operate my sounding robots and in Mitch’s case, his many synthesizers. Mitch’s homemade synths can be gotten for a song and a melody as a kit from: https://cornfieldelectronics.com/cfe/cfe.main.php The Video and pics are by Jessica Cobb! For the full video see here: https://youtu.be/aJg3JsEsQyY
X-Hain is an incredible Hackerspace in the Friedrichshain neighborhood. https://x-hain.de/en/ Check it out! Thanks to all who came out +++++++ Kal
-What sane person could live in this world and not be Crazy- Hello All, We are alive. And the creative act continues. I have some shows and workshops in Germany these next few weeks. If you are nearby, drop on by. Or, if know someone nearby please let them know.
I am creating soundscapes to videos (landscape video as score) using sounds machines I have made.. I will create new videos in each city. The videos are of the sun, stars, moon, waterways, trees, grass, ants. So we will hear the moon, sun and ants.
This is a form of Celestial art and sonification inquiry into Landscape. To not look down upon to spy or judge but to interact and try to understand. The Audiences will get to operate the sound machines with me.
Dortmund: June 24-27 I am doing a workshop at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences
Karlsruhe: Venue: ZKM June 27th to July 1st. July 1 Performance- this is my big gig! https://zkm.de/en
Berlin July 3-13 Performance at x-Hain Space July 8, 8-10 P.M. With the Amazing Mitch Altman! This will be fantastic, Folks are invited to join in with us after our set with their own sound machine/pieces, so bring something weird that makes sounds.
Berlin July….. The Club Of Polnish Losers Let’s just call this a secret society gig Get a hold of me
Be safe, but not too safe, k
Some Thoughts on Galactic Scale Inquiries: This Project is about finding our place in the cosmos and inquiring…… where are we? What are we. What will happen to us. A sort of cosmic overview. The story of nature’s elusive phenomena Geologic,cosmic and human time
I aspire to build art committed to not look down at others but to look beyond the planet earth and our perceptions of it. To decode the context and state of our genesis. To allow you to contribute to this, you don’t have to do all of the work.
Here I am exploring the fundamentals of how the universe works, how we observe it and how the cosmos functions. When we are out of sync with the universes, we are doomed.
Title: Soundscaping Karlsruhe A collaborative live performance with robotic instruments and local bio inputs. A video score shot in the site’s environment acts as a score conducting volunteers to operate robots. Sensors that harvest data from local plants, bird songs, the moon or even the soil will also cause the robots to perform. Robots built from regional foliage, branches and stones. To Be in a dialogue with the planet.
Look with equanimity and wonder at the implacable forces that spin, measure, and bring our life and time to its ultimate conclusion.
From my Shero, Martha Wilson:
Feminism contributed the “personal is political”; the idea that what you do on a moment-to-moment basis is a political act. You could argue that being an artist is political, even if you are doing landscape paintings, in relation to the larger social order. I totally believe that.
“In the dark times, Will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times”
-Bertolt Brecht
An upcoming art exhibit I am in:
the final letter in the [ ] alphabet OMEGA
Mamma Anderson, Ala Ebtekar, Francesco Clemente, Mildred Howard, Paul Kos, Susan Middleton, David Nash, Gay Outlaw, John Priola, Jose Maria Sicilia, Isabelle Sorrell, Kal Spelletich, Leo Valledor, Theodora Varnay-Jones.
Exhibition curated by Isabelle Sorrell
Opening Reception March 5, 2022, 5–7pm. Exhibition March 3 – April 30, 2022
CLOSING EVENT TBA.
I am showing two video pieces, one is a vitrine with a sunsetting sky. An homage to light, nature and space. The 2nd is a reliquary with a video of friends’ hands I asked to recreate praying gestures.
The Amazing Paul Kos has a solo Exhibit on the top floor gallery, this exhibit is downstairs.
Here is an etching of data from 2 illegally planted Avocado Trees I planted across the street from my home 16 years ago.
Position of the trees: Latitude:37°45’46.4″N Longitude:122°24’41.9″W I regularly plant trees and plants in abandoned spots in San Francisco. This is guerrilla gardening. I hacked a sensor to harvest data from each tree. This data was sonified and processed to two etching robots to scribe on a plate. The etching is being produced by Maeght Editions in Paris, France. , https://www.maeght.com/editions/
Tree #1. Is named Cassandra. I clipped two alligator clips to a leaf and a tiny branch and recorded data signals, They were sent as sound waves to a subwoofer with a scribe attached to the subwoofer speaker cone to create a sort of seismographic document of the trees life onto the plate. There are two lines of marks on the plate from two separate data harvests. These are lines 1. & 3.
Tree #2. Is named Helenus. I placed a sensor at the roots and at a leaf to record signals from this tree. The data signals from Helenus are translated via a sound sensor triggering a robotic arm with a scribe attached to it.
There are two lines of circular marks on the plate from two separate data harvests. These are lines 2. & 4.
As California burns and the ice caps melt I think, what I can do beyond cutting down on my own footprint on the planet. Many years ago I started planting trees and plants anywhere I can. Maybe the true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
Scaling the Cosmos: Global Human Positioning Night Sky Laboratory, a spectacular public experiment across the skyline, visible from space, illuminating the landscape on planet Earth. Scaling the Cosmos will inspire wonder in audiences across anywhere in eyesight while uplifting under-recognized contributions to science by women and championing the importance of scientific literacy.
PARIS PROPOSAL
I will send laser signals will from The Eiffel Tower to Sacre Cour/Montmartre. Or using sky-scrapers/tall buildings. At these sites will be sensors, mirrors, and apparatus to receive the light signals.
I propose to research, build, and then recreate Armand Hippolyte Louis Fizeau’s historic 1849 experiment calculating and measuring the speed of light and distances. Also referencing and honoring astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who made one of the most important astrophysics discoveries of the 20th century: the radio pulsar. I have a prototype already finished.
On a laser beam, I will transmit Morse Code, audio stories, thoughts, wishes, facts, sounds, submissions from the public, and other codified data through laser light to address our existence in space and time.
The project is also inspired by Spelletich’s observations of the Eiffel Tower — how it was used, and eventually saved because it became a locus for cutting-edge scientific experiments and optical communication from fiber optics to Morse code. Scaling the Cosmos activates the newest addition to the San Francisco skyline, the Salesforce Tower, with a call for public science that echoes the Eiffel Tower experiments in Paris.
To realize this project, we will point a laser from atop the Salesforce Tower toward Mt. Tamalpais (14 miles away stretching across the San Francisco Bay and two counties), recreating Armand Hippolyte Louis Fizeau’s historic 1849 experiment calculating and measuring the speed of light. The experiment will also honor astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who made one of the most important astrophysics discoveries of the 20th century: the radio pulsar. Spelletich will transmit simple Morse Code, audio (sounds and stories, poems), messages to other life forms/Extraterrestrial Intelligence and other codified data through laser light to communicate messages addressing our existence in the cosmos alongside observations from the public. We would conduct our Art & Science Light Projection Experiments for one month on Thursdays.
Sample messages include: Be Here Now; As is the Microcosm So is the Macrocosm; C = 3×108 (the speed of light). Scaling the Cosmos will be a remarkable public event that makes tangible the obscure measurement of light, placing control of this wondrous technology and powerful communication tool in the hands of the public.
Fizzeau’s historic 172-year-old experiment eventually allowed us to use the speed of a light wave as the length standard to determine the scale of the cosmos. Using contemporary and original 1800’s technology from lasers, light sensors, and satellite positioning, we will recreate this historic experiment. This is big-picture science and art looking at deep time and space.
Bell Burnell’s discovery, which she made as a graduate student, eventually earned the Nobel Prize in 1974. It could one day form the basis of a “galactic positioning system” for navigating outside our solar system. But Bell Burnell didn’t collect the Nobel. Instead, the award went to her supervisor at the University of Cambridge, Antony Hewish. She is now rightly recognized as the pioneer who made this breakthrough discovery and an inspiration to those addressing gender bias in science.
Here is a prototype of the project. Scaling the Cosmos will be 63,360 time larger
AUDIENCE AND INTERACTIVITY Scaling the Cosmos will span across two counties and be visible across the Bay Area, reaching millions of people. In the lineage of the Bay Lights, San Jose Semaphore, Pi in the Sky, and other large-scale public art projects originating from ZERO1 over the past twenty years, Scaling the Cosmos will be accessible to viewers across a large geographic area at no cost. The beam of light will inspire awe in viewers of all ages, inviting them to rediscover the wonder of science.
Imagery of two lasers reflected and playing off of each other
The online presence of the project will solicit input from audiences and guide their open-ended inquiry into the history of science. We will give a live feed as we measure the speed of light and measure the exact distance from skyscrapers to mountains. The project website will also host a series of interdisciplinary talks by artists, scientists, and philosophers that will expand on the history of science and contemporary understandings of science and culture.
Scaling the Cosmos is part of a series of works by Spelletich that celebrate the scientific method and reference foundational scientific discoveries with an emphasis on marginalized scientists. Spelletich recreates historic gravity, light, and sound wave experiments that allowed us to understand the scope and scale of our planet, our solar system, to know our beginnings and our place among the starsand the expansive entirety of the cosmos. These recreations and interpretations celebrate the scientific method and reference foundational scientific discoveries. With them, Spelletich aspires to inspire social engagement, both inside the gallery and in the outside world. Spelletich’s creations carry us back in time, to when the sciences and the arts were one, to the fundamentals of how the universe works, how we observe the cosmos, and how we determine humanity’s place within it.
In the contemporary context of politicization and polarization around science, Spelletich is working to celebrate science through art. With the firm assertion that science is real, Spelletich confronts flat earthers, climate change deniers, anti-vaxxers, and a resurgent eugenics movement with an aesthetic invitation to join in the collective practice of understanding the world around us.
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In which I experiment with the Burnell Galactic Positioning System at the Edge of the San Francisco Bay. Experimenting with space, light, and sound on the edge of the precipice for 8 Minutes
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NOTES:
Notes: Salesforce to Mt. Tam. DISTANCE 14 MILES.
DIY Science DIY Scientist
Maps and mapping
Scale of the universe
Native American signal fires There is a long tradition of native people in the Great Basin use signal fires on major peaks to quickly transmit news across the basins (valleys). During the great surveys of the 19th century of the Bay Area to Nevada (some of the same peaks used by native Americans), from which to project light with mirrors to triangulate parallels of latitude). John Muir and Kit Carson guided Frémont during the first exploration of the Sierra Nevada range in California. (They were advised by Native people, as well).
Revealing a deep mystery Touching Our Sense Of Wonder and Awe
Exploring the Structure of the Cosmos
Between Scale and Eternity
Jocelyn Burnell is still alive.
Astronaut William Anders said that although the astronauts went on their mission to explore the moon, what they really discovered was the planet Earth. He added: “I think it’s important for people to understand they are just going around on one of the smaller grains of sand on one of the spiral arms of this kind of puny galaxy […] it [Earth] is insignificant, but it’s the only one we’ve got.”
The speed of light is one of the most well-established values in physics, It travels at over 186,000 miles a second, and can be measured so accurately that the meter is now defined in terms of it. But before the 17th century, most scientists, including such giants as Johannes Kepler and Rene Descartes, considered the speed of light to be infinite, able to travel any distance instantaneously. Galileo Galilei was among the first to question this assumption and attempt to measure the speed of light experimentally.
“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” ― Carl Sagan, Cosmos
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science” – Albert Einstein We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men. -George Orwell
James Hutton (1726–1797);[2][3] his “system of the habitable Earth Darwin Silent spring
The experiential nature of the experience of deep time has also greatly influenced the work of Joanna Macy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joanna_Macy She is an international spokesperson for anti-nuclear causes, peace, justice, and environmentalism,[1] most renowned for her book Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World and the Great Turning initiative, which deals with the transformation from, as she terms it, an industrial growth society to what she considers to be a more sustainable civilization. She has created a theoretical framework for personal and social change, and a workshop methodology for its application. Her work addresses psychological and spiritual issues, Buddhist thought, and contemporary science. She currently lives in Berkeley, Ca.
Korten’s 2006 book The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community argues that the development of empires about 5,000 years ago initiated unequal distribution of power and social benefits to the small portion of the population that controlled them. He also argues that corporations are modern versions of empire, both being social organizations based on hierarchies, chauvinism, and domination through violence.
The Roman Catholic theologian Thomas Berry (1914–2009) explored the spiritual implications of the concept of deep time. Berry proposes that a deep understanding of the history and functioning of the evolving universe is a necessary inspiration and guide for our own effective functioning as individuals and as a species.
How do we save what is left of the planet? How do we save humankind? The sciences and the arts are the key.
Documentation of a wind powered Banjo. Wind and even squirrels activate tree branches triggering banjo. As performed in the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina 8/2018.
Kal Spelletich's Art 