Calculator show in L.A. USA this weekend

[Grantbt]

Machine Project: The Great Calculation

Calculators are silent, ubiquitous, boring, and utterly reliable- to the point where you don’t even question the answers that you get. In the early 1960’s they were big, heavy, noisy, smelly objects. They had unique interfaces and needed constant maintenance for reliability. Calculation was a visceral process that shook the entire table.

Mark Glusker will talk about his collection of mechanical calculating machines and what makes them so compelling: from their mechanical complexity to the unique interfaces, and industrial design.

After the talk there will be an orchestrated calculation performed simultaneously by 6 mechanical calculators and members of the audience plus a very special secret musical guest!

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1) Machine Project is excited to bring you the Great Calculation Weekend. Mechanical engineer Mark Glusker and Museum Exhibit Developer Maria Mortati will be in residence all weekend to provide a series of lectures, interactive performances and workshops oriented around vintage calculating machines.

We'll be kicking things off on Friday, November 9th at 8pm with The Lost Calculator: a lecture about 19th century inventor Thomas Fowler and his calculating machine made entirely of wood. Collaborating with a team of English historians, Mark Glusker successfully reconstructed this machine based only on a written description and a stained-glass image. Free.

The Great Calculation happens on Saturday, November 10th at 8pm. A collection of calculation machines from the 1960's will be on display with a discussion about what makes them complex and unique. Following the talk there will be a participatory mechanical calculation orchestra as well as a very special secret musical guest performing a live remix of their rhythmic sounds. Free.

On Sunday, November 11th from noon to 3pm participants will be given a chance to take apart these calculating machines and see how they work. As these machines are dissected and disassembled, Maria Mortati will lead a simultaneous workshop where participants can make miniature gesture drawings of the motors in action, as well as creating large-scale compositions of their tiny gears, cams, and springs.