Scene Podcast: Two Guys Who Play With Fire for Art

In today's episode, Scene's creative director James Krouse, who you probably know from Ingenuity, sits down with Noah Rosenthal and Nathan Clark, two Northeast Ohio residents who play with fire for fun. That's the simple explanation at least. The larger explanation: Whether at Ingenuity or at Burning Man, these two guys put on a show using flames using their bodies. Here's the synopsis of Pyropodium from 2011 Ingenuity:

Imagine conducting an orchestra, as interpreted by a flame-throwing fire machine. Participants are invited to become the conductor of the Pyropodium, to step onto the podium and discover the responsiveness of the artwork to their own movement. Computer optics read bodily movement and interpret gestures into flames and jet streams of rhythmic visual percussion.

Recording the conductor on the platform, computer optics interpret their actions and signal the valves to open in various configurations depending on the movements of the arms, legs and body. With no buttons to press or baton to hold, the line between conducting the fire and embodying it becomes blurred.

Krouse and the guys got together for a 30-minute chat about how that idea came about, what technology allowed that to happen, the maker movement and more. 

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