Hungry Ghost Festival - Chinatown
Aug 17, 2024
At the Hungry Ghost Festival in SF, we showcased a 15’-long dragon named Spike, and his best friend bunny named Fluff. They are lit-up wood and fabric puppets from a recent kids’ theater production by Bindlestiff Theater in SOMA. They live in a magical wooden-arch structure that represents the curiosity and playfulness of an impromptu built environment.
The architecture invites resiliency of imagination: children and adults are encouraged to create their own wood structures at collaborative stations with real wood and metal in a friendly, curious environment. The purpose of the exhibit is to share our ability to learn from structures unimpeded, and to appreciate STEAM and the integration of art, culture, and engineering.
Deployable wooden cave
A wooden installation for a 15’ dragon would be a wooden cave. The wooden cave is an arch made of wood and bolts that can expand and contract like an accordion. Little kids can walk underneath it, and it serves as a centerpiece to the exhibit.
Interactive Wooden Sculptures
The idea is to make a curiosity-based hands-on activity for kids and adults where they can freely build their own wooden sculptures. The exhibit has a free-form challenge to build whatever they like using real wood, bolts, and wing nuts. In practice, this aligns with constructivism, an educational theory where the power is put in the hands of the learner.