'Beakerhead was born huge': Pageant meshing artwork and science celebrates a decade

The tenth annual Beakerhead pageant, boasting greater than 100 displays, runs in Calgary from Sept. 14 to 17

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Since 2013, it’s been described as a mash-up of interactive experiences, immersive installations and mind-bending performances that mix cutting-edge science with inventive shows.

And now, Beakerhead is celebrating a decade of wowing Calgarians with its greatest providing but — and it’s all free for attendees to take a look at.

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The tenth annual Beakerhead pageant will boast greater than 100 displays highlighting developments in science, know-how and engineering at three Calgary areas from Sept. 14 to 17.

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The eclectic pageant can be held in eight areas unfold out between Up to date Calgary, Millennium Park and the Telus Spark Science Centre.

Beakerhead’s government director Parker Chapple guarantees that anybody who’s curious, occupied with studying, or who enjoys being stunned can be transfixed by this yr’s pageant.

“We prefer to say at Beakerhead, what you’re experiencing is so pleasant and stunning that you just don’t even notice that you just’re studying,” stated Chapple, who makes use of they/them pronouns.

“It’s actually about making these conversations of STEM (science, know-how, engineering and arithmetic) accessible to the widest attainable viewers and making it approachable.”

‘A community-driven occasion for the group’

Calgary’s STEM-focused pageant was created in 2013, with the purpose of inspiring “unprecedented human ingenuity,” in line with Beakerhead’s web site.

Within the decade since then, the occasion has grown in lockstep with town, in line with Chapple. Over the previous 9 years, Beakerhead has welcomed 542,000 attendees and reached greater than 605 million folks on-line.

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“Everybody has at all times liked Beakerhead and it was born very huge,” Chapple stated. “I feel that, equally to how folks develop, change, adapt and evolve, so too has Beakerhead, as a result of it’s a community-driven occasion for the group.”

A centrepiece of Beakerhead this yr is BODY, an immersive after-dark set up at Millennium Park all through the pageant. The set up combines sculpture with lighting, particular results, sound and fireplace to painting human biology, giving visitors a deeper understanding of the human type, in line with the pageant’s web site.

Thomas Ferneyhough
Thomas Ferneyhough from Stroll the Plank units up the center show for the Beakerhead’s tenth anniversary celebration pageant at Shaw Millennium Park. Photograph by Darren Makowichuk /Postmedia

A number of showcases, demonstrations on faucet

To mark the 10-year milestone, Chapple famous the pageant’s focus will proceed to be native, highlighting greater than 120 associate organizations and 300-plus volunteers who assist make Beakerhead a actuality.

One of many pageant’s highlights will embrace Academy Skateboard Collective’s showcase on Saturday. Partnering with skilled skater Dan Mancina, the native collective will welcome visually impaired youth ages 11 to twenty to a workshop on adaptive boarding. The younger contributors will study foundational skateboard expertise reminiscent of pushing, rolling, turning and pumping their boards.

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Gearheads could also be occupied with Aerodynamic Marvels, a three-day demonstration highlighting fashionable developments in automobile engineering and aerodynamics. UCalgary Racing is facilitating the demo at Up to date Calgary from Friday to Sunday.

Those that have at all times needed to attend Burning Man can discover a smaller model on Saturday at A Style of That Factor within the Desert, an inventive celebration described on Beakerhead’s web site of “radical self-expression by way of a show of arts, science and engineering.”

Additionally on Saturday, guests can study you’ll be able to train a brand new canine outdated tips once they meet Flint, Telus Spark’s resident robo-dog. Flint, who’s Spark’s official schooling ambassador, will train attendees all about engineering, synthetic intelligence and neural networks.

“You’d be hard-pressed to not discover one thing that excites you,” Chapple stated.

Beakerhead a platform to advertise tech business

However extra than simply an thrilling extravaganza, Chapple stated Beakerhead is a platform to advertise Calgary’s burgeoning popularity as a viable metropolis for tech startups.

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“Notably right here in Calgary, you’ll be able to see we’re on the precipice of a tech increase,” they stated. “Beakerhead is completely poised to align inside that and actually broadcast to Canada, North America and globally that Calgary is a wealthy and dynamic place through which to foster this burgeoning tech business.”

Chapple encourages those that wish to attend Beakerhead this week to curate their expertise by visiting the schedule part on the pageant’s web site, beakerhead.com.

In addition they encourage attendees to contemplate donating, to assist guarantee Beakerhead stays a free pageant.

Beakerhead by way of the years

Listed here are some memorable photographs from previous festivals.

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Guests climb inside Web Blow-up within the East Village throughout Beakerhead 2014. Gavin Younger/Postmedia
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Intrude, by Amanda Parer, at Central Memorial Park throughout Beakerhead 2015. Postmedia file picture
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A lady images Tentacles, an set up by Filthy Luker and Pedro Estrellas, throughout Beakerhead 2016. Elizabeth Cameron/Postmedia
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The Bass Ship set up in East Village throughout Beakerhead 2016. Postmedia file picture
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Serpent Mom launches Beakerhead 2017 at Fort Calgary. Gavin Younger/Postmedia
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Desires By no means Die, designed by Maria Galura, throughout Beakerhead 2018. The Victoria Park landmark was affixed with tons of of weather-resistant, bio-degradable balloons. Jim Wells/Postmedia
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A show representing electrons and protons throughout the launch of Beakerhead 2018 on Stephen Avenue. Darren Makowichuk/Postmedia
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A crowd cheers as 10-metre-tall David, North America’s largest marionette, scales the 27-storey Devon Tower throughout Beakerhead 2021. Gavin Younger/Postmedia
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Mayor Jyoti Gondek controls Prosthesis, the Anti Robotic, throughout Beakerhead 2022. Jim Wells/Postmedia

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