Engineering STEAM students raise grain elevator at 2016 Nuit Blanche
The USask STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) TEAM, or S(TEAM)2 , is a collaborative group of engineering and fine arts students; with the goal of bridging the gap between two distinct practices, they recently put their mission to work at the 2016 Nuit Blache on October 1, 2016 in Saskatoon’s Victoria Park.
Nuit Blache is a free night-time arts festival that showcases and celebrates art and culture. 2016’s event explored the theme of ‘Creative Cuisine as an Agent of Change’.
Inspired by the theme of food, the STEAM group partnered with The Canadian Light Source to create their installation titled “Grain Elevator” which focused on food production and the transformation of Saskatchewan’s farming history. The kinetic sculpture transformed itself throughout the evening; Mirroring the change in agriculture, the grain elevator started with projections of still photographs of pioneering methods of grain farming and ended with a video of the genetic structure of wheat and yeast to represent the advanced technology seen today on Saskatchewan farms. The video of the wheat and yeast were provided by The Canadian Light Source.
The USask STEAM team for this art installation was led by engineering students Lauren Shyluk and Tim Gadzella, and fine art student Dani Dale. Guiding the team was Engineering Professor Rick Retzlaff and staff member, Liz Kuley.