Much of the measurement work from the Museum of Modern Art atrium is now complete. The following image gallery gives a sense of this process. Click on an image for more information.

Additionally, the Bernhardt Laboratories installation crew were afforded an opportunity to unload some provisional works for the Measuring MoMA project. These samples were brought into the museum’s loading bay and later into the atrium to test relationships between objects and to establish sightlines from various locations. The mock-ups used in this process were fairly rough, owing to the broad estimations of space in the atrium used prior to our opportunity to take these physical measurements. Based on comparisons between our drawings, models, and mock-ups against the physical dimensions of the atrium, some retooling of elements has proven necessary, as we expected. Details of this project (except those already revealed) will remain under wraps until further notice.

We would like to announce that the Bernhardt Laboratories website is currently under construction. Look for us at bernhardtlaboratories.com in the coming months. Readers of this blog may expect some updates here, but please understand if we expend our energies on site development and project proposals rather than on consistent posting. As one might guess, the consequences of the global economic situation have been felt at Bernhardt Laboratories much as they have been felt across various industries. As a result, many of our divisions are temporarily joining forces in order to complete several projects that were started months ago. The new website is one of those projects that will benefit not only from the expertise of the media division, but from members of each of the other divisions at Bernhardt Laboratories. With this kind of collaboration we hope users will see the divisions within the website as extensions of the corresponding laboratories housed in our facilities. We look forward to this new development.

As mentioned some time ago, this organization took time away from virtual space and analog project development to retool and to offer its employees the chance to pursue additional research endeavors. Folks from various divisions have been reporting back about their time spent working on individual research practices and applications, gestures that have been much appreciated by our creative director and by our various laboratory supervisors. There are a number of interesting things going on away from our regular facility! We must also note that many of these team members have been periodically offering updates about their families and travel news, evidence to us that we have found a nice fit with this crew. Economic factors notwithstanding, it has always been our priority to maintain positive working relationships with our employees. Thankfully, with many crew members offering to extend the time of their research leave, we are able to continue project planning until such time as our employees can be brought back into the regular project development cycle. Teamwork like this not only shows the type of family Bernhardt Laboratories has become, it proves to us that we must continue to provide for the people who make this happen. Ultimately, our employees and the entire Bernhardt Laboratories organization are unified in the pursuit of bringing the best ideas to its customer base. Thank you, dear patron, for your continued interest and support as we negotiate economic strife and continue to develop the kind of projects you have come to expect.

We would like to let our supporters know that Bernhardt Laboratories will be taking time away from this forum to re-evaluate our organization. A good number of employees form the various divisions have made it known that time for research and retooling would be appreciated. We understand that the quality of our product is closely related to the quality of our employees, therefore, Bernhardt Laboratories is granting a limited number of research opportunities to our employees via a nomination and selection process.  In addition, many of our divisions will be retooling over the coming months to update technologies and better provide our customers with the quality they have come to expect from Bernhardt Laboratories products. We look forward to reconvening with re-energized and freshly educated employees and the added value our customers will reap from their, and our, respite.

Our laboratory directors recently met to discuss the release of images from project proposals still in progress. All concerns were addressed, and after full consideration Bernhardt Laboratories determined that a selection of images would be published here so certain of our supporters could see where their support funds are going. We think this level of disclosure is important for future project support and outweighs the concern for protecting ideas that have not been fully released. More like teasers than full-fledged documentation of our project, the following images represent just a few of the drafted drawings being made by the drawing laboratory for the MoMA project.

The ground plan of the atrium as envisioned by the drawing laboratory.

The rocket unit.

The cloud conveyor unit, seen without the applied cloud texture.

We just discovered a photograph of the nylon wave from the interior. After our last post one of our employees in the front office recalled that she had taken this image during the wave’s brief installation in the test lab. Happily, she is not one to quickly delete photos taken on her cell phone. Now if we could just find someone who has a video of this piece.

This image shows a version of one of our wave machine prototypes. It is from our series of theatric special effects created from found objects. Not seen in the photograph are the fan placed at one end and the rippling motion caused by it. Unlike theatre, which requires a certain amount of audience distance, this effect encourages close scrutiny. Upon entering the space created by the volume of air under the fabric, one is enticed to stay by soft blue light and the cool rush of air.

The Bernhardt Laboratories installation crew will be in New York May 14-21, 2008. During this time we will compare our initial work on the MoMA project against the space of the atrium on site. Some aspect of measuring will occur in order to refine our current plans for installation. The future of the project will be determined by our evaluation of the space as compared with our initial estimations. It is conceivable that the project could remain unchanged or that it may undergo drastic reevaluation, but much of this is dependent on the judgments of the installation crew. It is yet undecided if the creative director will visit the project site at this time.

The Bernhardt Laboratories Collaboration Lab has been working with the collaboration outfit Barchael on some new projects. Something is in the works and it involves mythology, but we can’t share much more than that right now. Here are some screen shots the Barchael duo made while video conferencing. Watch for hints about the new project and see past projects at http://barchael.wordpress.com. Also see the sidebar for the Barchael link.

This post represents a project by one of our interns (someone who is quickly becoming a favorite over in the video laboratory!). The project is called “World’s Most Naked Man”, followed in title by whatever action has been taken by him. It remains to be seen what other videos he will submit regarding this project, but again, we have taken note of the work.

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