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Homouroboros
Black Rock Arts Foundation to Display Unique Zoetrope Installation in San Jose, California
Join us for Homouroboros' Dedication Ceremony and Receptoin, Saturday, May 17, 2008. Click here for details...
Fundraising for Whimsical Interactive Sculpture ‘Homouroboros’ is Underway for May 2008 Installation
This project is supported by a grant from the James Irvine Foundation. We are grateful for additional support from Anonymous, Christopher Bentley, Loren and Rachel Carpenter, Andrew Faulk, Robert Semper, Michael Shulte and Joanna Karger. Significant in-kind support has been provided by Bruce Labadie, Debi Von Huen, and Arthur Zwern.
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"I've been chronicling Burning Man for 12 years, and never have I seen a piece whose combination of interactivity and wonder both visual, technical, and psychological captured more people, and harder, than Homouroboros. Every other conversation that week at Burning Man '07 would come around to: "....And have you seen those spinning monkeys?"
-Brian Doherty, Author of "This is Burning Man" read his article 'Homouroboros: Spinning Monkey Business at Burning Man'
 Photo by Tristan Savatier, www.playa-dust.com |
 Photo credit: Wm. Magdziarz Click here to view a Hi-Res version of this image. |  Photo credit: Flickr/espressobuzz Click here to view a Hi-Res version of this image. |
The Black Rock Arts Foundation plans to install Peter Hudson’s interactive installation Homouroboros in downtown San Jose, CA. At 24 feet tall and 30 feet in diameter, Homouroboros is one of the largest, most ambitious zoetropes ever created, and public exhibition of the piece will establish a new level of interactivity for public art. To date, nearly $28,000 of the required $40,000 budget has been raised.
The installation’s giant tree-like steel frame suggests a Victorian mushroom cloud, with 18 life-sized monkeys hanging from its curved branches. Passers-by pound on six drums, setting the entire piece spinning. Then using strobes at night or liquid crystal shutter goggles by day, a mind trick called “persistence of vision” causes the discrete monkeys to appear animated like a movie at 12 frames per second – and the animation consists of a serpent-like human hand feeding a monkey an apple!
Homouroboros is a whimsical take on a myth of creation, and a droll commentary on our insatiable appetite for knowledge. While some public art can seem removed from the audience, Homouroboros' offers a perceptual experience and It requires people to participate in its operation and creative vision to be complete. We are thrilled that with support from the James Irvine Foundation and other generous donors, BRAF will invite residents of an important and culturally diverse city to engage in this experience at no cost.
BRAF hopes to exhibit Homouroboros for one month during Spring 2008 and is currently working to identify a downtown location that will optimally present the installation to the public. Leveraging $25,000 in funds from a grant made by the James Irvine Foundation, BRAF is now initiating public fundraising efforts, with a goal of securing at least $10,000 more by March 20th to ensure completion of the project.
Hudson’s piece first engaged an awestruck crowd at the Burning Man festival in 2007. In a September story for Wired, author Brian Doherty called Homouroboros the winner of the "Wow, did you see that?" survey at Burning Man. He says, "I've been chronicling Burning Man for 12 years, and never have I seen a piece whose combination of interactivity and wonder both visual, technical, and psychological captured more people, and harder, than Homouroboros. Every other conversation that week at Burning Man '07 would come around to: ‘....And have you seen those spinning monkeys?!’”
Exhibiting this unconventional installation will be an important benchmark for public art in the Bay Area and make a bold statement about public trust and citizenship. Typically, this is the kind of display you expect inside of a museum. San Jose is sophisticated enough to host this piece in public despite its complexity. It’s very much part of the Silicon Valley culture that embraces technologically-based artworks. We believe the people of San Jose will respect the work. San Jose offers both a diversity of audience and an affinity for technology-based art not easily afforded in other cities.
Hudson’s achievement can serve as an inspiration to us all and as a lesson in determination. The Artist characterizes himself as a “blue collar” artist, and is quick to point out that a community of over 50 individuals helped him create Homouroboros. Hudson chose to translate his personal discovery of the stroboscopic effect into something that could be shared by many.
About the Artist
Raised in Ben Lomond, CA and based in San Francisco and Oakland, Peter Hudson channels his technical and set-design expertise, childlike curiosity, and creative passion into creating life-size stroboscopic zoetropes. Hudson has spent 22 years in the world of stage and set design, working with the San Francisco Opera, Ballet, TV and film. In 2000, Hudson began creating his own larger scale sculptural installations, debuting his first major installation, Playa Swimmers, at Burning Man that same year. In 2002, his work Possession garnered international attention for Hudson when it was featured on the cover of the Italian edition of Rolling Stone magazine. Hudson’s work continues to evolve, culminating in his recent debut of Homouroboros. For more information about Peter Hudson, please visit www.hudzo.com.
More images of Hudson's fantastic monkey motion can be found on Flickr here.