Circus magic
Summer in Abu Dhabi is playing host to two performance spectaculars, guaranteed to keep your sun-weary eyes open. Magic On Ice is an acclaimed American extravaganza, combining ice dare-devilry with the spectacle of illusion, much as if David Copperfield lived in your freezer. It takes place at Zayed Sports City, Aug 1-15 (not Aug 9), daily at 8pm. Tickets are Dhs200 for adults and Dhs80 for children under 12 years old. The Freij Circus will bring the traditional big top to the big city, with dates and prices yet to be announced (www.summerinabudhabi.com). Expect animals, acrobats, and air-conditioning.
Science and Technology Island
7,000 sq ft of geek paradise. If you’ve ever pondered the possibilities of invisibility, or perhaps envisaged a world where robots walk and talk at your command, then this is the island for you. It’s also the temporary home of ArcAttack, an American ensemble who create sounds (music might be too kind a word) using three-metre high Tesla coils. Doctor Who meets Darth Vader on an Abu Dhabi dancefloor? Affirmative.
Adventure Island
This is the place to get good and grubby as you traverse jungle trails, cling to a runaway train, teeter around waterfalls and scramble over rock walls. There’s even promise of ‘realistic’ animatronics – surely a first for the animatronics community, and therefore worth the price of entry alone.
Art, Culture and Heritage Island
No prizes for the name of this island, but plenty for its attractions. The main feature is a celebration of Emirati culture, though visitors can also learn about South African Zulus, Australian Aborigines and native Mongolians. Look out for great music, passionate dancing and photo opportunities galore.
Fun and Entertainment Island
According to our science teachers, the fourth dimension is space. Not so at Summer Abu Dhabi, where the 4D cinema attraction throws water, air and movement into the mix. They’re also promising ‘neck blasts’ and ‘leg tickles’, which prompts us to ask: ‘Where and how can we apply to work as leg ticklers for the summer?’ The humble cinema usher’s job description never sounded so appealing.
Sports Island
If there’s one thing Time Out loves above all else, it’s gladiatorial combat. Hurrah for Summer in Abu Dhabi, then, as we get the chance to open up a can of Russell Crowe all over our deadliest rivals. Good people of Abus Dhabus, let the battle of the gladiators commence! The island will also host archery tournaments and the noble sport of, err, bowling. It’s also the place to indulge those bungee-jumping urges you’ve so far kept at bay (albeit at a vertigo-friendly height).
Atrium
Lucy may remain in the sky with diamonds, but Summer in Abu Dhabi has the flowers, ‘that grow so incredibly high’. And here they are, towering 12m above you as you approach the surprisingly psychedelic entrance to this year’s carnival. A word of warning – the tree house is not as it seems…
Shock tactics
Fans of electronica take note: there’s a new band in town and they make Aphex Twin look like a thumb-sucking baby. Forget synths, ArcAttack performs using towering Tesla coils and ‘pinball’ drum kits. Ahead of their six-week residency at Summer in Abu Dhabi, we caught up with geeky genius Joe Di Prima.
Electricity and humans don’t mix very well… have there been any accidents?
No. Never a safety accident. I mean, we’ve had our equipment break – especially early on – but we’ve never put anyone in danger. We’ve played hundreds of shows in the States and we’ve never had a single safety incident. In my own experiments, I’ve done some stupid things and zapped myself a few times [laughs].
Tesla coils and music: how did that idea come about?
The first time I ever saw a solid state Tesla coil run, I knew that the musical possibilities existed. So I started the project anticipating the end result, I just didn’t realise at the time how big a deal it was going to be. It was just this little thing about a foot-and-a-half tall with an eight-inch spark. But it takes over, you know? You can’t stop there. Once you make an eight-inch spark, you want to make a foot-long spark. Once you have a foot, you want four feet, and then ten feet, you know? I’m still caught up. At the moment I’m designing the next generation that’s going to blow our current equipment away.
How does it all work?
The way that we make a Tesla coil play music is we have a micro controller that interprets Midi data. I import the Midi protocol into a micro processor that I programmed that remembers the note number that the Midi wants the Tesla coil to play. Depending what that note number is, it outputs what’s called a PRM signal [Pulse Rate Modulation] – that’s the pulse of light that happens at the frequency of the note that you want to hear. Is that clear?
Err…
So, that light pulse gets sent through a fibre-optic cable to a digital circuit board on the Tesla coil, then the Tesla coil is allowed to turn on and off at the rate of the pitch that you want to hear. But it’s more complicated than that.
And you have a drum kit played by an invisible man…
The drum set was designed by Craig Newswanger, a friend of ours. Basically, the control mechanism is really similar to what we use with the Tesla coils, but it’s more like a pinball machine. It also interprets Midi data, relating to drum numbers. It’s basically a Midi-controlled pinball machine.
But who does all of this appeal to? Do you actually have an audience?
It’s kind of hard to say. One of the biggest shows that we play annually is the Maker Faire. We also play at sci-fi conventions: one of the big shows that we do every year is Dragon*Con, which is the biggest in the United States. That’s about 40,000 people. That crowd loves us the most.
And how on earth did you end up doing a six-week residency in Abu Dhabi?
I guess they must have seen a YouTube video, and now here we are!
Summer in Abu Dhabi, run by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, is at Adnec between July 1 and August 15, daily 2pm-10pm. Prices are Dhs30 for kids, Dhs40 for adults.
