WHAT IS IT?
It’s a bike, it’s an art exhibit, it’s a power plant! Wait…it’s….it’s…the Super Power Magic Motion Machine (SPM3). Inspired by possibility, the SPM3, a mobile art installation that closely resembles a bicycle and trailer. However, this is no ordinary bike. It’s a custom-made piece of art that transforms into a pedal-powered generator, allowing three other bikes to hook to its mobile trailer and create power. Traveling through greater Lancaster, PA the SPM3 will cast the conversation about energy consumption in a whole new light.
The machine’s initial launch will be a temporary art and performance piece based on the generation of community. There, we will demonstrate the integral relationship between human creativity and the generation of sustainable energy. The entire performance will rely on its participants, who must collectively produce both the power (by riding the bicycle) and the ideas (collected during the performance) that will drive the installation. The launch will introduce SPM3 and its possibilities to the public, generate conversation on energy use and new technologies, and inspire new collaborations for the future. SPM3 will spark a movement for local climate change and sustainability, offering unique, home-grown solutions to global environmental issues.
Following its debut in the fall of 2011, the Super Power Magic Motion Machine will travel to a series of locations throughout the city, powering various machines, events and ideas. Working with local partners; environmental and educational non-profits, community organizations and public schools; we will develop effective methods of using the SPM3 to supplement existing programs and curricula.
THE PROCESS
The SPM3 began with a grant call from the generous folks at Invoking the Pause– an environmental small grants program designed to offer a creative pause to foster collaborative action on climate change.
THE TEAM
Libby Modern
Libby is an artist and graphic designer. She is the co-founder and director of Half-Full Design, a design and communications collaboration devoted to providing design solutions for folks concerned about environmental and social justice. When not designing for non-profit clients, she spends her time painting, printmaking and wrangling her two young, wild boys. Her recent work has been focused on the possibilities and limitations of creative collaboration. Libby is fascinated and mystified with how things work…. and just to happens to be a prime member of the SPMMM’s target audience: those who somehow managed to completely skip physics and who for the life of them cannot totally grasp how electricity works. If she can figure out how to make this thing and explain it to others, we will have accomplished our goal!
Nicole Heller
Nicole is our resident scientist. She knows stuff about how things work and why things happen. She’s a doctor of biology. She is also extremely creative, energetic and incredibly wacky. Nicole is currently a resident scientist at Climate Central and a Visiting Scholar at Duke. She has taught ecology and environmental studies at Franklin and Marshall College and the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her writing and research address the effects of global change on ecosystems, climate change adaptation, ecological dimensions of green infrastructure, and invasive species. Nicole also works actively with practitioners to translate science into management actions, currently advising on San Francisco Bay Area regional adaptation and resilience planning efforts. She was recently named a Google Science Communication Fellow- yup, she’s a Google Fellow. Nicole got us into this whole project and for that, and for many other reasons, we think she is the greatest. While she’s the only one of us no longer here in Lancaster, we value her outsider’s opinion, and the chance to drag her back here as much as possible.
Marci Nelligan
What would a project like this be without an EXPERIMENTAL POET?!?! Every project needs one. (And especially every science-based project.) And if one is very, very lucky, that poet would be Marci Nelligan. Marci’s new book, Infinite Variations, was recently released by Black Radish Press (and its awesome.) Her work has appeared in Jacket, the Denver Quarterly, The New Orleans Review (poetry feature), Chain, Word For/Word, How2, Dusie, Unsplendid, and other journals. She has published two chapbooks and is the co-editor of an interdisciplinary book on Jane Jacobs, titled “Intersection” (Chain Links Books, 2008). Marci teaches creative writing at Franklin & Marshall College.
Danene Sorace
Danene gets things done. And done well. Danene not only runs Lancaster’s LIVE Green–organizing the design and implementation of a massive Green Infrastructure Plan for the city of Lancaster, she’s also an accomplished, coveted consultant on reproductive health and sexuality education. What doesn’t she do? Well, we don’t know yet. (Our motto: WWDD?) We were so happy that she agreed to be a part of this project. Without her grounding, the SPMMM would have been still stuck in our heads rather than on the streets.
Joel Walker
Joel, Joel, Joel. What would we do without Joel? When not running a pretty darn awesome software company, The Industrial Resolution, Joel has been figuring out ways to make this magic motion machine happen. He jumped into this project at hello and has continued to inspire us with possibilities, crazy ideas and an admirable dedication to finding solutions when things get tough. A native of Lancaster County, Joel grew up working at a family stand at the beloved Central Market.
George Mummert
George is an artist. George is a sculptor. George is a welder. George is a teacher. George is a community activist. George is the visionary behind Lancaster’s beloved Keystone Art and Culture Center. George is our saviour. By taking our lofty ideas and messy sketches, tracking down materials, turning them into actual functioning parts, and lending us his amazing space to build and house the many iterations of the SPMMM, George has been an integral leader of our team.