He lured me into his mad science lab nestled in an alleyway near Ossington subway station with four words: mind-controlled drinking game.
The building is a former coach-house with a rich history of blacksmithing and metal-working. It still has the original anvil to prove it.
Nowadays, the exterior is adorned with vibrant graffiti murals and the door is painted Rolling Stones red. The ground floor resembles what I imagine the shop classroom in an exceedingly well-funded private school might look like. In addition to the array of power-saws and work benches there are more notable contraptions, including a robotic arm.
Welcome to Site 3 coLaboratory, an art and technology maker space dedicated to making, teaching, learning and thinking about the intersection between art and technology. Its here where amateur physicists, engineers, artists and tinkerers use industry-grade machinery to breathe life into their fantastical inventions, many of which involve pyrotechnics or mind-controlled devices or both.
Ours is the only makers space in Toronto where you can really get your hands dirty, says Alex Leitch, who is famed for her Rainbow Flame-Thrower. An art school graduate, Leitch co-founded Site 3 in 2010 after recognizing that there were no spaces available in the city which provided access to the equipment she needed to realize her artistic visions. Today, Site 3 is home to a few notorious projects.
One of its most well-known is Super Street Fire, a live-action version of Street Fighter 2 video game played on a stage modelled after Ryus classic battleground. Participants wear motion-sensing gloves that register the kicks, blocks and combos used in the video game. When a player performs the hadouken maneuver, a pyrotechnic apparatus launches a fireball in the direction of their opponent. Whoa.
A similarly-themed creation is Pyrokinesis. Here participants don an EEG headset that communicates via WiFi with a control unit attached to an eight-headed flame thrower. Through mere thought alone, users can blast fire up to 20 feet skywards.
While similar workshops focus predominately on computers, Site 3 is renowned for its machinery including the biggest laser cutter in the city and a CNC (computer numerical control) mill from a chocolate factory. Lamp-working (glass-blowing), basic woodworking and 3D printing classes are offered regularly and open to the public.
Most of the loftier and interactive projects are created specifically for festivals. The work of Site 3s pyrotechnic hobbyist group, Fire Arts, is featured annually at Burning Man. Site 3 members also contribute art installations to Nuit Blanche on a yearly basis. The Heart Machine was a massive crowd-pleaser in 2011.
Site 3 is birthplace to a number of small-scale or personal projects as well. Many members utilize the coLaboratory to pursue a hobby, build commissioned objects, modify everyday devices to better suit their needs or make cool stuff just for the hell of it. A few members recently designed an app which allows the user to play Tetras with colourful LED lights strung across the buildings stairwell window.
Items bought in stores come fully formed but they too were made by people, says Hillary Predko, who uses Site 3 to craft leather fashion and wearable electronics. Makers spaces give people an opportunity to be part of the ongoing human history of making objects.
Craftsmen routinely cooperate on projects, showcase their work, exchange skills and mentor one another, which contributes to a potent sense of community. Site 3 is run by its members (memberships are $40 to $115 a month, depending on the level of commitment youre looking for), and functions as a social club as well as a makers space. It also boasts the highest percentage of female members out of all the makers spaces in Canada. Tuesdays are ladies and LGBTQ night while Thursdays are open house where non-members are welcome to explore and inquire.
My work and social life are in many ways defined by the connections Ive made here, declare Predko. There are people of all ages working on something they care about.
Leitch adds, There is a lot of cool stuff happening here and anybody can get involved for not too much money.
With so many fire-based projects even the toilets have been known to belch fire Im wary during my inaugural visit to Site 3. But Marc Reeve-Newson assures me that many members hold pyrotechnician cards or other industry qualifications and that safety is the utmost priority.
Were pretty careful to not blow ourselves up, he says.
Due to diligent precautionary measures, ideas have been vetoed on the grounds they may potentially blind the neighbours, produce x-rays, whip a bowling ball at high speeds or create complications for anyone with a pacemaker nearby.
Personally, the most dangerous project at Site 3 is Reeve-Newsons own mind-controlled drinking game, especially if youre playing with his homemade ghost-pepper-infused tequila. He initially designed Pour Courtesy for a makers contest. The unit includes an inverted bottle above a thin horizontal plank actuated to tilt through the power of concentration by participants communicating via Bluetooth. The object of the game is to tilt the plank to pour your opponent a drink. The loser gets to drink until he or she cant drink anymore. Unsurprisingly, Reeve-Newsons game won the contest. www.site3.ca.
news@nowtoronto.com | @nowtoronto
