Photo: Chain Reaction Director Arthur Ganson (right) and Benjamin Canfield of Littleton discuss “Camouflage Elevator,” an apparatus designed and built by Benjamin and his brother Adam. It's powered by a hand drill that turns the bottom roller. A plastic box attached to the camouflage fabric catches an incoming golf ball, which is hoisted up and over the rack and into a cardboard tube that sends it on to trigger the next apparatus.
 

IN THE ART WORLD Arthur Ganson is known as a kinetic sculptor. Here in Cambridge he’s also known as the maestro of a unique seasonal event:   the F.A.T. Chain Reaction at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.   F.A.T. took place this year on the afternoon of November 26 in the Rockwell Cage Gymnasium.

No, F.A.T. is not about holiday over-indulgence. It’s a way to remember the date: Friday After Thanksgiving.

For the chain reaction, a series of homemade set-ups—mostly toggled together by area kids with varying amounts of adult supervision—are hooked up in a circle so that each one triggers the next by tugging on a string or (new this year) by launching a golf ball. The impulse travels from table to table, with each set-up doing its thing and then kicking the next one into action, all the way around the gym. Back at the starting point, the process sets off a final display created by Ganson.

The effect brings to mind a Rube Goldberg cartoon, or maybe a self-destructing sculpture by Jean Tinguely, or a guitar-busting at a concert by The Who, depending on your age and perspective.  F.A.T. is a popular event, with 28 teams registered this year. As usual, hundreds of spectators crowded around the tables to ask questions beforehand and cheered from the bleachers as the reaction ran its course.

Photo: Washington Taylor (on the right, wearing gray shirt), Lucy (left, in baseball cap) and Clarissa (center) wait in suspense for the tug on the string that will set their "Caption Contraption" in motion. The wheeled toy with a "Patriotic Robotic" caption will live up to its name by hoisting a tiny flag. Other captioned action items in the Cambridge family's set-up include Trap Snap, Tug Plug, Slow Flow, and Store & Pour.

Arthur Ganson commented on the every-day nature of most Chain Reaction components—wind-up toys, marbles, cardboard mailing tubes, golf balls, stuffed animals, string, balloons, umbrellas.

“This is a celebration of real stuff,” he said.

Real stuff works perfectly, by definition. However, it doesn't always work exactly as planned. In films of past Chain Reactions, a hand (known to some as “the Hand of God”) comes in from above and re-starts the action if necessary. There were glitches this year, too, like the traffic snarl that led to a premature Trap Snap in the "Caption Contraption." But whenever a gadget stumbled or lost its marbles, Ganson or a team member gave it a nudge.

“These physical objects get a little bit afraid because they’re under so much pressure,” Ganson said.

Chain Reaction information, rules and tips can be found at http://web.mit.edu/museum/programs/fat.html, along with links to videos from past years. The 2010 video will be posted there when it’s ready, according to a cameraman who was following the action.

The Chain Reaction ran for 25 minutes and 35 seconds. It ended with a spectacular count-down game in which a ball was sent flying around a circle of 13 table-mounted catapults. Ganson designed and built the array.

In this 10-second video, kids gather around to try out Ganson's catapult circle before the program begins.

Ganson says he is considering making a version of the catapult circle to use for a charity event. Operators of the catapults would be sponsored by friends or businesses.

“It could be something like a walkathon,” he said. “So far it’s just an idea.”

This was the 13th annual chain reaction. (Note that the date, the 26th of the month, equals 13 x 2.) Guests for whom the number 13 has special significance were encouraged to share their stories; some participated in the finale, and there was special recognition for entries involving 13 or multiples of 13.

The F.A.T. Chain Reaction is sponsored by the MIT Museum, where Arthur Ganson was Artist-in-Residence for several years. Some of his works are on display in the museum’s Gestural Engineering Exhibit.