Machine Project

Watch Machine artists confuse the shoppers at Trader Joe’s in a favorite video from one of our weirder commissions. We curated a series of hour-long performances to take place throughout the day at 11750 W. Olympic Blvd, in West Los Angeles. Performances ranged from participatory to interpretive and included synchronized group walking, improvised music, turkey blessings, professional sign twirlers, dance, experimental burden carrying, and non-traditional use of projectors.

Adrienne Adar created Optical Illusion Ping Pong, an amped up version of the beloved rec room game, so we could experience the psychedelic effects of playing ping pong while immersed in a room covered floor to ceiling with a black and white checkerboard pattern. This video documents the room on March 8, 2014, when two tennis table pros (and several amateur enthusiasts) tried to hold a match in the room.

Optical Illusion Ping Pong is part of Machine Project’s Institute of Experimental Table Tennis Research.