Introduction to "Loop"

Hi all,

so with bright eyed optimism I was hoping to get this project kicked off this summer. The world, OTOH, had a different plan in mind for me as I’m sure it did for many. Some personal issues and a catastrophic crash of a backup drive containing much of my recent work, really set me back.

It’s not too late however, and now that human society is burdened more heavily with a technocratic-global-biosecurity-crisis-urge-overload, let’s call it, than ever before, I feel even more called to build some sort of counter-balance to unglue us from an incessant toxic barrage of frequencies radiating from our ubiquitous electromagnetic technologies.

To that end, I propose “Loop” – an engaging and interactive, “low-tech”, open-source instrument which seeks to invite us to engage in an altogether different frequency, or “unvirtual reality,” if you will. Loop was initially proposed and awarded a Burning Man Honoraria grant in 2020 (but the event itself was canceled the past 2 years).

Here is a little teaser:
http://aromaticdesigns.org/loop/

Here is a (somewhat outdated by now) presentation that describes in a little more detail some of the concepts:
http://aromaticdesigns.org/loop-project-intro-notes/

Due to various factors both external (such as a fuzzy deadline, and also what supply chain disruptions do to the price of raw materials) and internal (i’m more of an “ideas” dude than an engineer) I decided that instead of trying to hack together this massive and somewhat complex undertaking in one shot, it would behoove to start with a fully functional scale model (which ends up being about “tabletop” size). This would not only serve to dial in the mechanisms, programming, and kinetic interactions of the instruments, but also will help with figuring out how to make it modular to be able to optimize setup/breakdown/packing/shipping (so we can take it on tour!)

While I have lots of ideas about various feature, function, and even ritual possibilities to do with this device, there is still a ton of room for flexibility, creativity, suggestions, and experiments. So if you have any interest, questions, or ideas, let’s get a discussion going on here.

I’ll be checking out member night tomorrow if anybody wants to discuss in person, and hope to get into the wood shop early next week to start cutting parts for the hamster wheel and stand.

Thanks for reading! Any feedback is welcome.
best,

Dan (aka skunk)
Founder, Aromatic Designs

Hello artistic friends,
getting pretty excited to kick this off and hopefully once the work begins and possibility starts to take tangible shape, the project can become more clear (maybe even less formidable.)
Picked up a couple sheets of plywood to start building the engine, a hamster wheel with an inner diameter of 16". Schedule permitting, I’d like to get into the wood shop and cut all the pieces (see drawing below) some time next week, and then think about the best way to assemble the wheel, and the best materials for the rollers. Definitely open to any tips on cutting circles out of plywood - I’m not certified on the cnc router yet… I have some ideas but i’ve never had to be this mechanically precise before.
Thanks for listening :slight_smile:

When you say 16" (" = inch) do you mean 16’ ( ’ = feet ) ?

I just thought a person was supposed to power it and 16 inch seems small for person.

If you need assistance/somebody to cut something on the CNC just let me know.

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Thanks for the offer Gary! to clarify, I’m gonna start with a much less ambitious model version for testing and development.
I’ll actually be in the cnc tool training tonight and next week.

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