The Kinetic Art Gallery of the Harvenstall Art Museum is where visitors can participate in the creation of art.  It is a variation on performance art.

Take for instance falling chips.  Each black chip is five centimeters long by two centimeters wide by five millimeters thick or roughly the size of a domino.  There are 10,000 chips located on a stage that measures 30 meters long by 15 meters wide.  The stage magnetically arranges the chips according to how an “artist” wants them arranged when he makes his design on a video screen that measures two meters wide by one meter high.  He can also change the elevation of sections of the stage so that the falling chips can climb or fall to reach the next chips. 

When the chips are standing up, the magnetic stage becomes just a stage and the artist knocks down the first chip.  An overhead camera shows the artist and other onlookers what happens when the chips fall.  It takes some minutes for all the chips to fall.  But it is often worth the wait.  Sometimes the chips spell out words and other times they make pictures after they fall.  Sometimes they just fall and that’s good enough for some artists. 

There is also people bowling.  A synthetic is rolled down a bowling lane that is slightly sloped down so that the synthetic will gain speed.  At the end are ten synthetics that are arranged like bowling pins.  You try to knock down as many as you can.  The synthetic walks back to the top of the lane to be rolled toward the remaining synthetics that are standing if any are standing.  It doesn’t seem so cruel since no living beings are caused to fall. 

Pendulum art is something that can be done with one person and a synthetic or a bunch of people.  There are giant pendulums the size of beach balls that swing north and south or east and west.  They are magnetically attached to posts that drop down when the magnets are released so that they can swing freely.  Or after they are released, if a person pulls the pendulum back further or shoves it harder or in various directions, the pendulum can swing differently.  A pendulum or more than one is released to swing perpendicular to the one the person releases. 

The artist would decide what color or colors he wants the work of art that is created to be in on a video screen.  The swinging pendulums would use lasers to cross a screen on the floor to draw electronic lines in various colors.  Collisions would change the course of the pendulums.  Magnetic surfaces on them would repel the other pendulums so that they aren’t damaged. 

When the pendulums stop, the posts would glide over the screen and retrieve the pendulums to draw them back so that they could be swung again.  The line art that is created would be available at the gift shop for the artist to take home.  If more than one artist is involved, copies of the piece would be made for a minimal charge.  The first print is free.  Extra prints or extra works cost $1.  The artist would have a line drawing that measures 75 centimeters by 50 centimeters; perfect for framing.  If a frame and mounting is requested, the charge is $5. 

There is also top art that uses motorized tops that measure a meter in height.  They too would make line drawings with lasers atop a screen that is protected by a clear thick cover that needs to be replaced everyday and remade in a special mold in the warehouse.  The cover is removed by lowering it a few centimeters and sliding it to the mold to be melted, reformed, polished, and placed back in position.  The whole process takes about six hours which is plenty of time for it to cool by opening time of the museum. 

There is the splatter art range which uses paint filled balloons in front of canvases that can be moved around so they will produce the desired splatter pattern  when punctured by particle beams from the power ray rifles and pistols.  No one can use the weapons against anyone, for safety reasons.   But when a canvas is completed, it will be removed from the range and sent to the gift shop for spraying to set the colors so that the artist can have it when he leaves.  It costs $5 and $10 if it is mounted and framed. 

The EPU/physical interface area allows artists to experience the creation of a work of art and move as if he were actually creating the work with real materials.  The artist would wear an EPU headset and a motion capture suit.  He might experience carving a statue out of marble or wood and his motions would be captured and interpreted by the computer so that the work can be formed in a materials synthesizer from full scale down to 90% reduction if the object is large.  The cost can be between $5 and $50, depending on the size and materials used to form the object. 

For paintings and drawings, printers would produce the works from what the program and the motion capture system indicates.  A person might draw a landscape, or a portrait, or a still life, or something totally imaginary.  The print could range in size from 6 inches by 4 inches all the way up to two meters by a meter and a half.  The price also ranges from $1 for the smallest print to $20 for the largest one.  Mounting and framing would be extra.  If they aren’t mounted, they can be slipped in an envelope or box for the smaller works or rolled up and placed in a tube for the larger works free of charge. 

There are also photo capture and video capture EPU programs so that if a person is experiencing a battlefield, he can capture it in a picture or a video, whether in flat 2-D or 3-D.  A special powered frame can cause the picture to alternate for each eye at 360 alterations a second or be a multi-layered warped field projection.  Either way you have to pay between 20 and $50  for the frame depending on the size.  It can be plugged in or battery powered so that you can have 3-D art in your house.     

There is also the portrait and video gallery where you can have your portrait drawn or painted by a synthetic that can complete a work in 10% of the time a human artist can do it or quicker.  It only costs between $10 and $40 depending on the size you want.  Photos are half that price and can be in 2-D or 3-D with the powered frame which is extra.  You can even wear costumes that range from togas to spacesuits and armor.  That’s right.  You can be a knight in shining armor and even be mounted on a horse if you want. 

The video gallery is an EPU gallery that captures what you experience in a program so that you can experience it over and over.  An EPU program costs only $5 and lasts for an hour though with accelerated experiencing it only takes five minutes to experience the program. 

There are also mobiles that are either motorized or can move when they are put in motion by a person or people.  They range in size from small ones the size of a lamp to huge ones that are hung from the ceiling 10 meters above the floor.  Many mobiles use field displacement systems to hover in the air and move.  Others are powered from ceiling energy transmitters. 

Human and synthetic artists also do demonstrations of painting and sculpting for the visitors.  On Friday and Saturday nights between closing time and 1:00 AM there are special adults only sessions in which nudes are painted, or photographed, or sculpted and visitors can even get naked and have their portraits painted or photographed.   The artists make sure nothing gets out of hand.  But since they are adults, the people are freer to express themselves after hours.  Visitors pay $5 more to be allowed in after hours.  No other gallery in the world has adults only after hour sessions to my knowledge.   Even the anti-gravity room in the Functional Art Gallery has turned up the fields so that no suits are required after hours so that a bunch of naked people can act like kids bouncing off the walls and each other. 

The Rube Goldberg area is a fun place to be.  You have all sorts of items and devices that you can arrange to do simple tasks like turning off a light from your chair.  You would have the chair with a table next to it.  On the table would be a softball that would go down a ramp to open a small door at the bottom.  When the door opens, it would pull a cable that would release an arrow from a crossbow.  The arrow would pop a helium balloon that is hovering above a bellows with a brick on the end of a string attached to the balloon.  The brick would drop and force air out of the bellows which would also pop out a ping pong ball that would strike a paddle wheel that is connected to a connected to a rod that would flip the switch off. 

If the person wanted the light turned on he would push a boccie ball down a ramp off of the table that would open another small door at the bottom.  When that door is opened, it would pull another cable that would release another arrow from another crossbow.  The arrow would pop a helium balloon that is hovering above and slightly to the side of the paddle wheel with a brick on the end of a string attached to the balloon.  The brick would fall and land on a platform that is connected to the paddle wheel by a rack and gear teeth.  As the paddle wheel rotates in the opposite direction, the rod connected to the wheel would go the opposite direction and turn the light on.  Of course to do the process again, a person would need to reset the devices and objects which would take more time than walking over to the switch and flipping it off or on. 

That is one example of impractical art a person can do.  You can also set up the area to turn a water faucet on or off a complicated way, open or close a door a complicated way, turn a TV on or off a complicated way, or even turn a page of a book that requires 42 steps to accomplish, if you are so inclined to do it in that many steps.  There are a large number of complicated ways to do simple tasks that can be done in the Rube Goldberg area. 

There is an impression wall that has over a billion thin steel rods that you can move with a magnetic wand.  By using the non-magnetized end you can push the rods or just use your hands.  They can be pushed in pretty easily.   You would use the magnetized end to pull out the rods that can extend to a meter in front of the wall.  The rods are thin enough that when you stand back a ways, you can see definite shapes.  The wall measures 100 meters in length which means there is room enough for many people to do a work of art even if it is only an impression of their bodies.     

The art of motion and moving to do art is demonstrated in the Kinetic Art Gallery.  It is another fun place to be when you have plenty of time to waste and plenty of energy you want to expend.