If you’re a hacker, crafter or a DIY-fanatic, chances are you’ve already heard of Maker Faire, heck, you may have even attended or exhibited at one before. This year, the annual celebration of “arts, crafts, engineering, science projects and the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset” from the folks at MAKE magazine and O’Reilly Media is making its way out East with a recent event in Denver and an NYC Maker Faire happening this weekend, September 25-26.We’re giving away two tickets to whichever one of you can show us the best DIY-project we’ve never seen before. Just post a link or images of the project in the comments section of this post, or on our Facebook page. We’ll pick the best one and give you tickets for you and a friend to attend Maker Faire this weekend in NYC.The event series, now in it’s 5th year, was hatched as a modern-day county fair type of gathering by Maker Faire director, Sherry Huss. The community-focused feel is certainly intact, but no county fair we ever attended as kids featured a colossal Tesla coil musical light show. The NYC event, which takes place at the New York Hall of Science (incidentally, a former location of the World’s Fair), will feature two days worth of knitting circles, crafting parties, arduino workshops, keynotes from tech luminaries such as Wired editor Chris Anderson, and every other mixture of high and low tech imaginable.Some of our favorites from the line-up include:- A fashion show with designer Diana Eng, who we interviewed last month about her high-tech clothing.- Performances by ArcAttack!, who use two giant Tesla coils as synchronized instruments for a very “electrifying” audio-visual spectacular.- A Robotic Ballet mécanique. A hyper-complex musical composition that is performed by an all-robotic ensemble.- Chris Anderson’s talk about The Next Industrial Revolution taking place right now.- Interactive Art projects and talks from graduates of NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program at the ITP Cafe.- Browse the dizzying array of exhibitors and installations. Throw the map away! Get lost! Explore!You can view the full schedule here.The weekend promises to be filled to the gills with makers displaying their creativity and innovation, no matter how homegrown. But the real appeal of Maker Faire, according to Huss, is the way it brings together the intersection of art and technology to life in a non-traditional way. “You get to meet the artist, and talk to the artist, ask questions, and in many cases participate in the creation of the project,” Huss explains. “There’s a real generosity of spirit here. The magic is really in the people themselves, and I think today there are so few experiences like that these days, where people are excited to share something with you.”
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