A Curious Summer week 2 begins: Magnetic Fields

June 29-July 3: Magnetic Fields
(recommended for ages 11-14)

The Project:
Explore the wondrous invisible world of magnetic forces, and create an exhibit that helps people to understand magnetism. Keep a video blog that documents your exploration.

Activities:
Take a trip to Ocean Beach to collect marvelous magnetic black sand.
Play with a strange concoction called ferrofluid (a magnetic liquid) and make it move, flow, and defy gravity. Build a theremin (a magnetic musical instrument) to hear what magnetism sounds like. Listen to the mysterious sounds of VLF radio, behold footage of solar flares, and watch Magnetic Movie – to contemplate the fascinating forces that magnetic fields exert all around us.

For more information about the series click here.

A Curious Summer week 1 begins: Camera Obscura

June 22-26: Camera Obscura
(recommended for ages 11-14)

The Project:
Explore the properties of light and lenses. Speed up, slow down and reverse the flow of time. Keep a video blog that shows your experiments.

Activities:
Convert the Studio for Urban Projects into a giant camera obscura. Construct a high-speed photography lab, and freeze time by taking ultrafast pictures. Play with long exposures, multiple exposures and time lapse photography. Watch intriguing films and animations on the subjects of light and time.

For more information about the series click here.

An Unnatural History of Golden Gate Park Walking Tour

Join the Studio for Urban Projects members Marina McDougall and Alison Sant on a walking tour of Golden Gate Park. In honor of  SPUR’s (San Francisco Planning + Urban Research Association) inauguration, the Studio will be leading a walking tour drawn from their podcast An Unnatural History of Golden Gate Park. Limited to 20 SPUR members; RSVP to tours@spur.org.

Chris Carlsson: Found SF & Nowtopia

The Studio for Urban Projects presents
Chris Carlsson
Found SF & Nowtopia

Wednesday, June 10th, 7:30 pm
at the Studio for Urban Projects
3579 17th St., San Francisco (located between Dolores & Guerrero)

In the second of two programs on collaborative history projects, activist and historian Chris Carlsson takes us on a tour of the recently launched wiki FoundSF, a vast, living archive of essays, oral histories, photos and videos that present an alternative to more official versions of San Francisco history and invites contributions from all of us.

Organized by decade, neighborhood, population and theme FoundSF, a collaboration with San Francisco Museum and Historical Society is the latest iteration of Carlsson’s long running project Shaping San Francisco. Here you can find the fascinating social, natural, and political histories that underlie the San Francisco that we experience today – whether it be the planting of the Presidio’s Forest in the 1880’s or the city’s Punk Rock scene in the 1980’s.

In addition to showing us how to we might make contributions to FoundSF, Carlsson will speak about his recent book Nowtopia which looks at grassroots environmental activists, from vacant lot gardeners to outlaw bicyclists, as revolutionaries of everyday life.

Chris Carlsson spearheads the ongoing series of talks and bicycle tours called Shaping San Francisco at CounterPulse and throughout the city. He is a founding rider of Critical Mass, and founding editor of Processed World, as well as the author and editor of numerous books including Reshaping San Francisco (City Lights Books, 1998); Critical Mass: Bicycling’s Defiant Celebration (AK Press, 2002), and Nowtopia (2008).

Please join us.
Space is limited. Please RSVP to info@studioforurbanprojects.org.
Suggested donation $5-$15.

The Self-Sufficient Kitchen: fermentation

This class will cover the basics of fermentation. From sauerkraut to lacto-fermented sodas, the class will demonstrate techniques for making fermented foods a healthful part of your home pantry. Other foods the class will introduce include Kombutcha, Pickles, and Kimchee.

To see a full description of the series click here.