by Jocelyn Courneya
The first pHacktory project will demonstrate the sense of play that pHacktory promotes in itself. Its creation driven by play, wonder, sheer curiosity and a sense of community.
In early July of this year I was introduced to Dr. Andrew Pelling, Scientist, professor, entrepreneur and TED Fellow. Having heard of Pelling through the buzz he’s made in Ottawa, I had a general knowledge of the man who was going beyond the Doctor’s orders, and doing more than just eating his apples. Not only a bit of a mad scientist, Andrew has built a career on unapologetic curiosity, and wants to share his concept of work and play with the Ottawa community.
Cue Andrew’s latest venture,pHacktory. Envisioned, pHacktory will be Ottawa’s first street level research lab, open to the public as a space to build, create, and experiment.
Andrew has built a career on unapologetic curiosity, and wants to share his concept of work and play with the Ottawa community.
Come back now to today, where Andrew has teamed up with artist/designer Manuel Baez, and the Canada Science and Tech museum to create and build pHacktory’s first community project. Baez’s description for the piece is a reflection on the works of architect Antoine Gaudi, that simultaneously invites public participation in an art installation. The final project will be open to the entire community, and will demonstrate the truest nature of pHacktory.
I was lucky to have a front row-seat as a participant in the trial experiment for the first project. Alongside ten other volunteers with varying experiences in differing fields — we were equipped with biodegradable balloons, ribbon, helium and LED lights to build something that would result in beauty with a hint of wildness. It was like I was 6 years old again, exploring finger painting with my classmates for the first time. We only had a clue of what our end result would look like, but we knew we were building something different.
It felt like I was 6 years old again, exploring finger painting with my classmates for the first time.
Despite coming from varying backgrounds and specializations, our team naturally moved together as a task force. Each individual experimented with a skill, discovering what they were good at, and where someone else could be helpful. After hours of work the end product was something more beautiful than any of us could imagine. Moving in the wind, balloons tied to ribbons in the hands of 6 individuals, the project itself was moved by its own creators.
Simple objects created a thing of wonder, that reflected a different image in every person’s eyes. A jellyfish, a wave, a starry sky, this installment can be whatever you imagine it to be, and like future pHacktory projects, it is not limited to people of certain skill sets and expertise. For a group of adults, this project created a playground effect, where we all returned to our past moments of childhood wonder and awe.
On October 1st, this amazing project — that we call Starling’s One — will launch over the skyline of Ottawa. We hope you can join us to find out #WTPH pHacktory is all about.
