Hartford, CT:  Hartford artist, Balam Soto, participated in the October 25-26th Maker’s Faire at the NY Museum of Science, bringing home an “Editor’s Choice” award for his project entitled “The Cube v.2.5”.  The Maker Faire brings together scientists, engineers, artists and other lovers of the DIY (“do-it-yourself”) culture into a science-fair-type celebration of innovation and creativity.

Balam is a new media artist who skillfully combines the worlds of art and technology by creating interactive installations that incorporate hardware and software that he develops.  His winning piece, “The Cube v.2.5”, links tangible and digital reality.  The installation focuses on a projected cube that is manipulated by a physical cube that sits in front of the display.  Attendees of the event this weekend were delighted to realize they had become part of the installation when they discovered a realtime video of themselves in the projected cube.

Balam’s Maker exhibit was partially supported by the City of Hartford Arts and Heritage Jobs Grant Program, Pedro E. Segarra, Mayor with funding from the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG-R) funds allocated to the City of Hartford through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.