Yuri's Night World Party at NASA/Ames Research Center: April 13, 2007, part 3
http://www.ynba.org/



The next demo was the NASA CoLab's Second Life. This is the second world that Hidalgo was referring to on the webcast interview, a 3-D virtual world of Yuri's Night. Advance Wireless Internet Access provided a QuickTime server to support real-time streaming of the event into the online virtual world Second Life, and a connection to Second Life at the event.



Burning Man Earth is another mapping tool for the Burning Man event at Black Rock City. The tool is a 3-D virtual representation of Black Rock City which allows you to zoom in to your favorite theme camp, zip out to deep-playa art installations, and connect with your fellow participants.




Next to the demos on a small stage, the exotic KC Bella Fuega and Spiral Hoop Dance performed an orbital hooping belly dance. Fuega entertained the crowd to the ambient music in the background, an unreal scene to see in an airplane hanger.







Rare video works documenting art in space were shown through out the evening featuring Jean Luc Soret's Space Art, space artist Ayako Ono, Matières Chorégraphiques by Kitsou Dubois, and the Lowry Burgess's monumental project "The Seed of the Infinite Absolute" and Zero Gravity Arts Consortium by Frank Pietronigro. Pietronigro is founder of the Zero Gravity Arts Coalition and is known for his painting work in zero gravity, where he floated through jets of suspended pigment and splattered them on a canvas.

Multimedia visual artist, Scott Draves entertained with his beautiful technical work 'Dreams in High Fidelity' an exploration and colonization of cyberspace.

Displayed in the hanger was multimedia artist Peter Foucault's Robot Drawing Machine, with two line-drawing robots that respond to applause. We played with that display for a while. The robots are motion and sound activated. The composition and scope of the drawing had been shaped by the music, audience participation and will service as an entire document of the evenings interaction.

Another display we tried was from Robotics Alliance Project, which showcased robots from NASA Ames. Next to them was the SETI Institute (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence). Their website was down when I was talking to them but I was happy to see them bring their research to the party. The SETI project surveys the sky to detect the existence of transmissions from possible civilizations on distant planets.


Another demo was the QuakeFinder, dedicated to earthquake forecasting research for a global warning system of imminent destructive earthquakes. Research Scientist Brad Bebout from Microbes@NASA was educating the crowd about Microbial mats research (see left image).




We visited the Chacabraka Fur Hammocks that felt like heaven, especially when I wrapped myself in one like a burrito. Enhanced by the background music, the sensation felt like floating in space.

A Quiet Short-Haul Research Aircraft (QSRA) called the "Phoenix" was enveloped by surreal video images. The plane was built by Boeing and designed to develop the technology for future commercial airliners with short take-off and landing capabilities.



After we toured the hanger, we visited the Media Viewing Area to interview Anousheh Anasari. The rooms are setup for podcasters, bloggers, videocasters, and other forms of media aid.

As Brittmer reported in my newsletter of April 12, 2007, Issue 111, Anousheh Anasari came to Moffett Federal airfield at NASA to speak about her childhood dreams of space travel and how she got to where she is today. Ansari is an immigrant who spoke no English when she arrived in the United States as a teenager. With a bachelor's degree in Electronics and Computer Engineering from George Mason University and a Masters in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University, Anousheh is the founder and chairman of Prodea Systems. Not only is Anousheh a business leader, but she is also an idealist on the forefront of the social justice movement. She works with non-profit organizations such as ASHOKA, PARSA and the XPRize foundation to empower communities in the Middle East and Central Asia. Anousheh is an advocate for women and children and believes in a world without borders.

Brittmer and I returned to Hangar 211 and sat in one of the seats available on the floor to soak in the psychedelic celestial visuals projected on the screen. Plaid was performing their brand of computer program rhythmic ambient music, which matched their free-form visuals in a hypnotic trance. By this point of the evening, I was definitely in a trance after walking around for a few hours of the tour and talking to many people. I returned to my office to blog the sights and sounds of Yuri's Night on my social network website.

After finishing up my report, I returned to the hanger as Pete Worden, dressed in a wizard outfit, took the stage around midnight urging the crowd to "party like it's 1961". And the crowd did - until 6:00 am! But I didn't stay that long. I left the center around 2:30 am. My thoughts as I left were fluid, surreal and unforgettable. If someone had told me that that Yuri's Night would have actually come to come to NASA a couple of years ago, I would have thought they were from another planet!




Next page