08.30 Renewable Energy and Sculpture - by Ned Kahn

This past Thursday night found a crowded Science Buzz Cafe waiting to learn what new madness Ned Kahn had unleashed on the world. The crowd was not disappointed.

Ned gave, as always, a slide show punctuated by his sardonic, sly and self-effacing wit that illustrated his latest examples of why the science world's loss is art's gain. Science was not big enough for him so he got out of town with a 10 year side-trip at the Exploratorium. His colossal works of art incorporate scientific principals that result in startling and entertaining sculptures. However, they also advance a public awareness of environmental and ecological "green" uses of ambient energy that the usual preaching cannot elicit. His amusing stories often hinge on what he says were his "plan B" ideas being selected when someone else’s ideas would not work. Giant tornadoes of fog and even fire, walls of shimmering reflectors oscillating in the wind (check out his work on the AT&T building downtown) and now he is proposing a huge project for the San Francisco Bus Terminal which is sure to make the buses finally run properly.

Ned Kahn at Science Buzz Cafe on August 30, 2007