If you seek the bright side of Detroit, look no further than the budding Eastern Market hackerspace collective OmnicorpDetroit.
There I met up again with Detroit artist Jeff Sturges for the first time since I accidentally met him in 2005 when he wowed me by pulling off the visually stunning one-night illumination of the former Ford Headquarters building in Highland Park. He was a Cranbrook grad student then, after which he left for New York City. But after a few years he was drawn back to Detroit by its vibrant art scene and exciting challenges. Jeff [R] discusses a collaboration with East Side Riders founder and president Dywayne Neeley before the Omnicorp's banner.
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I was admitted by Brandon Richards who showed me around and explained the concept of the space. Here he is working with an aged analog modulator in a wooden case that he had interfaced with a mixing board to generate some exotically interesting sounds.
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Nearby Josh Slominksi was programming a red chip as part of a laser tag detector he was assembling out of new and salvaged electronic parts.
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The 7500 sq. ft. space includes a colorful upper 5000 square foot open space filled with projects in varying degrees of completion.
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Click HERE for a larger view.
The space includes a lounge space with large windows overlooking Shed 2 of Eastern Market.
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When one enters a hackerspace the thought can easily cross one's mind, "What use on earth could any of these projects ever have?" Yet when in the actual surround of the space and feeling the energy exuding from the all the brightness and inquisitiveness the thought becomes, "Something, no many things, very significant and important are certain to arise from here."
It might start out as a robot that will have a ping pong ball cannon mounted atop it in preparation for a competition, built by Andrew Sliwinski [not shown], Ted Sliwinski [R] and Andrew ?[L], which may seem frivolous but what may be discovered in the process is not.
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As I discovered from last summer's Maker Faire at the Henry Ford Museum an interest and aesthetic of the hackerspace community involves the uniting retro devices with contemporary instruments. Here Rhita Boufelliga is busy figuring out how to connect her Mac laptop to a 1970's portable pop up TV from far beyond her time.
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Salvage and creative reuse of the discarded is another theme that runs through the hackerspace. As this was the week prior to the Le Marche du Nain Rouge, float activities were occurring. I found Liza Bielby creating a paper-mâché unicorn head. Liza is a co-director of the theatrical group Hinterlands. A recent arrival to Detroit she was drawn here by the artistic energy, low costs and central locaction for touring.
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Exiting the space Jeff showed me the two lower open workshop rooms.
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These spaces are the heavy and loud machine areas where larger objects, such as the bicycle in the foreground, can be assembled.
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Eastern Market was always been a high energy area and the emergence of OmnicorpDetroit fits in perfectly with this vibrant and rapidly improving district of Detroit.
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