Kishroniyah: Steampunkinetics
Kishroniyah is one of our centerpiece programs for our Tzad Bet (B-Side) chanichim (campers). Kishroniyah comes from the Hebrew word kishron, which means skill. For one week each summer, we invite an array of high-level specialists into camp to run intense special programs for our older campers. Machon and Nivonim have 12 hours of Kishroniyah from Sunday-to-Wednesday, and Magshimim and Bogrim have 8 hours of Kishroniyah from Wednesday-to-Friday.
Steampunk art and design is the fusion of history + art + technology, repurposing and infusing modern technology into period antiques and salvage objects – creating inspiring, authentic, relevant, functional, fantastical and personal one-of-kind objects and spaces. Participants in this workshop learn how to design and create a Rube Goldberg-like, vintage “milk crate room” repurposing salvaged items, designing and fabricating a kinetic track and ball system, integrating electronics and programming lights and sound. Each groups’ stacked or connected milk crate ‘room’ becomes part of a greater Steampunk ‘house’ where the ball rolls through each groups’ crate or room. Our assembled Steampunk ‘house’ will be permanently displayed at camp! This Steampunkinetics workshop will teach creative problem solving, collaboration, adaptive reuse and resilience through teamwork and hands-on making.
Steampunkinetics group leader Bruce Rosenbaum has been dubbed the Steampunk Guru by the Wall Street Journal and Steampunk Evangelist by Wired Magazine. Bruce’s functional Steampunk artwork and design has been featured in the Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, Architectural Digest, CNN, NPR and featured on MTV, A&E, HGTV and Netflix. Bruce and his wife Melanie recently purchased an 1876 Victorian Church in Palmer MA to convert it into their home, gallery and workshop space. The Rosenbaum’s church conversion project – Steampunk Wonderland (episode 8) – is featured in the Netflix Original docuseries – Amazing Interiors. Currently, Bruce’s ‘Discover Steampunk’ Museum Exhibition is on a worldwide 5 year tour premiering at the Museum of Idaho. Bruce’s company, ModVic, works with clients all across the world to take period, repurposed, personal and meaningful objects, and creatively infuse them with modern technology to transform the ordinary into incredible Steampunk functional art. The Steampunk art and design process celebrates history, while setting a path for a reimagined better future — telling the personal stories of individuals, organizations and places along the way. Learn more at www.modvic.com.
