Masks and vaccinations are recommended. Plan your visit
After Dark: Delightful Devices
Thursday, January 17, 2019 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.
Buy Tickets
Free for After Dark Members
Adults Only (18+)
Note: The Tactile Dome and some programs have limited capacity and are available to visitors on a first-come, first-served basis.
Lose yourself in over 650 interactive exhibits exploring perception, art, and science at our adults-only After Dark. Grab your friends and a drink and get immersed in mind-bending experiences and unique, thought-provoking programs.
Featured Program
After Dark: Delightful Devices
Encounter delightful designs, outlandish objects, and astounding apparatuses in this celebration of the closing weekend of Curious Contraptions. Incorporating innovators whose hands-on approaches fuse with technology in surprising and enchanting ways, prepare to encounter objects and artists that have left the expected behind to explore curious new possibilities. Top the evening off with a one-of-a-kind performance merging artistry, comedy, and song from by self-described “electronics company from a parallel world” Maywa Denki.
SCHEDULE
Presentations
Ume Course
With Maywa Denki
8:30 p.m. | Osher Gallery 1, Kanbar Forum
Delight in the purported nonsense machines of Maywa Denki in this charming performance by president Tosa San. Self-described as an “electronics company in a parallel world,” Maywa Denki builds an array of handmade, absurd devices that serve as the foundation for their public performances, which are a singular blend of song, dance, comedy and art.
Ongoing
CLIO
With Camila Magrane
6:30–9:30 p.m. | Osher Gallery 1
Coalesce with CLIO, an interactive photogram mirror from artist Camila Magrane. Upon approach, she comes to life, inviting you to gaze and react and then, like a mirror, reflecting your motion back to you. Superimposing artificial and natural elements onto a human image, CLIO invites interactivity as a form of communication, leaving behind pure observation and asking you to become an explorer and co-creator of the work.
In a Whirl (Studies in Perceptual Glitching)
With Elaine Buckholtz
6:30–9:30 p.m. | Osher Gallery 1
Don a pair of perception-altering glasses and watch your sense of space transmute in Elaine Buckholtz’s work In a Whirl (Studies in Perceptual Glitching). By pairing vision-shifting glasses with mirrors that alter awareness, In a Whirl builds a vision of reality that is not quite connected to the real.
Robotic Voice Activated Word Kicking Machine
With Neil Mendoza
6:30–9:30 p.m. | Osher Gallery 1, Recollections
Probe your strange relationship with the many talking machines encountered in daily life. Combining projection and robotics, The Robotic Voice Activated Word Kicking Machine is a surreal exploration of language that considers the traverse between the virtual and the physical. Speak to the machine and watch as your words transition to the virtual work, where they may accumulate, get kicked by a robotic foot—or be sucked back out into the physical world, manifesting as sound.
Virtual Mutations
Camila Magrane
6:30–9:30 p.m. | Osher Gallery 1
Augmented reality unveils a hidden microcosm in Camila Magrane’s mixed-media collages. Seen through the naked eye as a series of 2D works that reframe a female figure in a sparse mechanical space, the works are enlivened through Virtual Mutations, a phone-based AR application. When moved over the works, the active motion of a fully realized 3D space is revealed.
Film Projectors Inside and Out
With the Tinkering Studio
7:00–9:30 p.m. | Gallery 2, Tinkering Studio
Dive into the inner workings of the 16mm film projector with a live demonstration, projector take-apart, and the chance to make your own film. Find out just how this marvelous machine works and brings still images to life. There will be tools and crafts on hand to help create your own cameraless animation to project on the big(-ish) screen.
SOLD OUT: Members-Only Event: Knoclock Workshop
7:00 p.m. | Osher Gallery 1, Black Box
This event is open to After Dark and daytime members only and has limited capacity.
This event is sold out. Please contact Cinema Arts with any questions.
This special workshop and Maywa Denki’s performance are supported by Takaha Kiko Co. LTD.
Tactile Dome
$10; purchase tickets onsite at the Information Desk6:15–10:00 p.m.
Osher Gallery 1
Take an excursion through total darkness in our Tactile Dome. Crawl, slide, and bump your way through the pitch-dark Dome using your sense of touch as your only guide through its chambers and mazes.
Please Note: Due to the nature of this experience, certain restrictions apply. Guests who are afraid of the dark; claustrophobic; have back, neck, or knee injuries; or are in their third trimester of pregnancy should not participate. Guests wearing casts are prohibited. Also, please wear comfortable clothes.
Learn more about the Tactile Dome.
Explainer Demonstrations
6:00–9:45 unless noted
Various locations throughout the museum
Drawing Board
Ticketing at 6:00 p.m., first come, first served
Osher Gallery 1
Draw hypnotically flowing patterns with a swinging table, and watch friction cause the patterns to slowly shrink along a spiral path. Pick up a ticket to reserve your spot in line for this popular activity.
Speaker Dissection
Bechtel Gallery 2
Tune in to surrounding sounds by experimenting with strings and vibrations, and use electromagnets to build a basic speaker. Learn how to listen with your bones, and explore the workings of the inner ear.
Cow Eye or Flower Dissection (alternating)
Gallery 4
Do cows see color? How does a lens work? Examine the intricate structure of a cow eye to learn about similar structures in our own eyes, as well as some key differences.
Stigma, stamen, pistil, anther, style: Uncover the beautiful architecture of flower anatomy, and gather some surprising strategies that plants use to reproduce.
Magic Demonstration
Osher Gallery 1
Everything is not as it seems—at first. Pick a card, any card, and watch the Explainers reveal some surprising aspects of human perception.
