The Bug – Arcadia 2007
Arcadia is was designed in a bubbling laboratory test tube and was born one day at the Glastonbury festival in England in 2007. Its creators, Bert Cole and Pip Rush have decided to create a world apart, based on DJ music and at the center of post-futuristic artistic movements supervised by artists from the dance world, theater and circus.
To accommodate an ever-growing audience, the 2 engineers and their technical teams have created automata, each one more fabulous than the other, a bit like the machines on the island in Nantes, but all dedicated to music. There are regular new machines accompanied by incredible animations.
Arcadia is a company, it includes several poles, techniques, musical, security, artistic, and also include a Sharing pole, created to share skills, Arcadia networks and resources with a much wider range of communities. Current projects include sculpture and performance workshops with recycled products for groups of young people, and the development of well drilling technology in a remote part of Sierra Leone, in collaboration with local communities to create a cycle of sustainable agriculture. 100% benefits acquired in the workshops go directly to Arcadia Sharing.
We are going to take a quick tour of these machines, most of which are inspired by nature, and we will focus on one of them..
Pangea
The first in a series of tailor-made productions for the Glastonbury Festival. The hemispherical scene is constructed from 150 tons of recycled steel and will evolve over five years to become an air show.
The Reactor
A revolutionary geometric matrix where cutting-edge technology, high octane performance and snappy bass lines collide, the Reactor is a dancefloor experience at 360 degrees, fully immersive.
The Afterburner
The Afterburner is a dance arena in 360 stages including a DJ booth built from a jet engine and radiant dance platforms for the surrounding audience. Fully rigged with lights, fire and an incredible ambisonic sound system that can be installed in a single shipping container, he toured the best festivals in the world, from Glastonbury to Ultra & Burning man.
The Spider
The Arcadia Spider is a monumental work of art. The installation of 50 tonnes is constructed from recycled military equipment and can be used in all weathers. As a testament to its design and durable materials, it is designed to last. The Spider is fully engineered with a wide range of effects from moving limbs firing C02, heavy pyrotechnics, with perforating lasers in advanced lighting.
The Bug
Rolling on 6 autonomous sculpture wheels, The Bug is a mobile amphibious dance scene.
Its curved shell bristles with a stealthy light show, and the wings unfold to reveal a small but fully equipped scene.
It is precisely this vehicle that will interest us on SixMania.
Arcadia uses an old military Alvis Stalwart recycled of course. It is surmounted by 2 ladybug wings that can open and close electrically.
When the wings are open, they give access to a tray which allows for example to put a DJ with his turntables, powerful speakers are also housed there.
It’s one of Arcadia’s oldest attractions, she can easily participate in parades since she can keep riding during the show.
