What: Alchemy
When: Saturday May 1, 8pm-2am
Where: GAFFTA, 55 Taylor Street, San Francisco
Cost: $15 at the door
Why: The folks at Equlibrium helped curate some interactive science-y talks at this annual art fest. Check out the amazing list:

9PM – MetaMind Evolution by Andreas Stadler, software engineer and inventor, presents his work on neuro-feedback EEG mind-machines. He explores their applications to meditation, lucid dreaming, and brain training, as well as creative uses in music and art. After the talk, you’re invited to don the MetaMind headset and software, displaying beautiful visualizations from multiple channels of your very own brainwave data. (http://meta-mind.de/)

10PM – In Your Mind’s Eye by Dr. Tristan Ursell, Stanford University. You are a highly evolved creature, bred to perceive that which keeps you alive best, not what represents reality best. Learn about why you see the colors you do, and how your brain distorts the world around us.

11PM – John Bela is a founder of the design collective REBAR, creators of the global PARK(ing) Day event, Civic Center Victory Garden, Panhandle Bandshell, and other transformations of public space. He is a producer of creative ideas and a maker of things. John will present the works of Rebar, and how its many pursuits remix the ordinary, repurpose the ubiquitous and restructure the fabric of the urban environment. (http://www.rebargroup.org)

12AM – cutsupposepossesssuck by M. Ryan Noble, redefines social roles for artists through collaborative and therapeutic art processes, covering a wide range of media and experimental performances that fuse archetypal traditions with contemporary experience. A discussion of cultural engagement, sensory integration, and sub/un/hyperconsciousness as a means to create a metaphysical art experience leads into an experimental performance. Noble becomes a living sculpture in the space, guiding and collaborating with participants to develop the piece. (http://www.imagici.org)

1AM – Matt Bell is an inventor, artist, and entrepreneur who has done a wide variety of projects including gesture-based interactive displays, intricate laser-cut sculpture, and, most recently, floating art for the Ephemerisle festival. He’ll walk you through his multiprojector no-computer-necessary video feedback system that generates fractals live, allowing you and your friends to manipulate the parameters and output.