TECHNOLOGY
The focus of STEAM Carnival is to convert non-STEM kids into STEM kids. We decided to do that by putting art into the mix. Adding art – fashion, music, games – was a pretty powerful shift: those things appeal to most kids
We ended up also being on-camera inventors for a home makeover TV show, ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, building a new invention for each house. We were having a lot of fun with engineering and we were going into schools to talk about it. Statistics show America is ranked 47th in maths across the world, but we saw kids getting excited about this stuff, which made us think about how we could take this show on the road. That’s how STEAM Carnival came about, it’s our biggest undertaking to date.
What does STEAM carnival involve? We want the focus of STEAM Carnival to be to convert non-STEM kids into STEM kids. We decided to do that by putting art into the mix, turning STEM into STEAM. Adding art – fashion, music, games – was a pretty powerful shift: those things appeal to most kids. The STEAM Carnival involves a lead-up element at school, where kids learn about design, creation, programming and fabrication. This culminates in a live event at the show. The children create a fashion show of wearable electronics, a battle of the bands for musical robots and an arcade made of indie-group games.
TWO BIT CIRCUS CONCEPTS
THIS TOO SHALL PASS MSUIC VIDEO This music video is a showcase for Two Bit Circus’s skills and humour. A warehouse was transformed into a Rube Goldberg Machine, a giant sequence of events. Starting off with a domino run, four minutes of action are perfectly synched with the music, including water pouring, metal balls dropping, a sledgehammer crashing into a TV, a piano dropping, a fl ock of umbrellas – culminating with the Ok Go members being splat- tered with paint. Watch it and smile.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w
STORY ROOM Like many of Two Bit Circus’s concepts, Story Room started as a bit of fun. Set in a themed room, players become part of the story and must collaborate with others in a process full of sur- prises and mysteries. In order to work through the story, they must unlock a sequence of clues and puzzles. The narrative behind the original version set the participants in a scientist’s laboratory, where they had to work together to stop a virus from escaping. The concept can be re-themed countless ways: a crash landing on a strange planet, an adventure under the sea…
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About Two Bit Circus Two Bit Circus is a collective of inventors, developers and engineers that’s full of imagination. The group’s mix of innovation, technological know- how and creativity translates into a variety of pop-up interactive amusements. Two Bit Circus brings its productions – immersive story games, stunt shows, plus an arcade roadshow that showcases its one-off games and activities – to parties and events, as well as running the educational, hands-on touring platform STEAM Carnival.
Do you have plans to take the STEAM Carnival overseas? Yes, it’s just a question of timing. We’re in talks with a group in Poland and also in China, as well as about 10 other cities around the US to take it on the road.
Could this be adapted for an attraction? We would love to do that. We’ve talked about modifying it to become a touring museum exhibit and spoken with science museums about what it could look like. We’ve got all the games we’ve been making: one of the original ideas with the carnival was we’d test and trial ideas under our own control and then sell them to theme and amusement parks.
It’s aimed at 11 to 14-year-olds, as this is
the age they often opt out. We’re aiming to create a curriculum for under-12s as well.
Was it easy to get schools on board? Our Kickstarter campaign received a lot of media and internet coverage which enabled us to trial the concept. From that we had teachers and schools call us.
Can you tell us about any new projects you have on the go? We’ve been working on virtual reality and fi lming in 360, and we’re looking at mixing that with a story adventure.
Is there ever anything you want to do, but can’t make happen? We have to consider safety and the size of things, making sure they’re portable, but we try not to put the brakes on too early. However, I do wish we had more time. ●
The fi nale of the video This Too Shall Pass by the band Ok Go
LA ARTWALK The Two Bit Circus workshop is in one of the biggest artist com- munities in the world and twice a year artists open their doors to showcase their wares to the public. Two Bit Circus creates an arcade of all their latest games and ideas. Last year, one of the most popular games involved a laser projector, a tracking cam- era and a basket of balls. People had to throw balls at the walls to hit the moving hoops. It was a real hit. “There was no start, no fi nish, and no scorekeeping, but people loved it – 10,000 balls were thrown at the wall over the weekend,” says Bushnell.
Read Attractions Management online
attractionsmanagement.com/digital AM 4 2014 ©Cybertrek 2014
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