The Disorienteering Zone will be a Sideshow Midway offering a number of confusing and disorienting experiences. An interactive fun zone that will challenge our perceptions and assumptions.

The Still Frame of Reference

A small, 16' x 16' room made of theater flats and black duvateen, will be light sealed with a baffled entry and exit, and have a number of strobe lights placed randomly along the walls. The strobes will be timed to fire randomly, sometimes leaving the room dark for as much as 30 seconds, and as little as 2 or 3.

Every time a strobe fires the people in the room will see an image of the room and their fellows at the moment it fires, but due to the persistence of vision that still image will continue to be seen for a few seconds afterward, during which time, the dynamics of the people in the room will change.

The experience of seeing a person standing still a few feet in front of you as they crash into you is extremely disorienting, to the point of panic for some people. This project was originally presented as the collaboration of an artist and technology corporation in Maurice Tuchman's Art and Technology exhibit at LACMA in 1970.

Crazy Clown Swing

Two standard playground swings are suspended at the ends of a 12 ft long steel beam, supported in the center on a used car axle and bearing, and braced with a corbel riding on a skate board wheel against a 5” steel pipe which forms the central pivot, holding the crossbeam 10’ above the ground, and resting on a 2’ square of ¼” steel plate and then penetrating 6’ into the ground.

One person sits in one of the swings as the other walks around, holding the central pole while pulling on the chain of the other swing, until they have it rotating as fast as they can. They then jump into their swing, which causes an oscillation, where all the momentum becomes transferred back and forth, accelerating one at multiple G’s, as the other comes to a complete stop.

The violence of this simple device is puzzling and dangerous.

Angular Memento

A small robust turntable with a handle bar allows visitor to experience the thrill of a spinning ice skater as they try to stand straight after kicking the turntable to a modest rotation. Falling off despite their expectation can be humiliating and confusing.

Sideways Glances

A pair of glasses are fitted with prisms that shift one’s sightline a few degrees to one side. The visitor then tries to play catch with a cohort, only to discover their throws veering unexpectedly. Eventually they will adjust their perceptions, and succeed in their throws. Then after removing the glasses, the throws will veer again. It’s disquieting to find your muscles not obeying your eyes.

Some of these devices have been present at the Exploratorium, and others were briefly placed on playgrounds 30 years ago but quickly removed due to injuries and litigation.