Like most art projects, Pyronica is never "done", just out of time for the next performance. We are always interested in new creative ideas and engagement to take Pyronica further and in different directions.
Here are some of the current challenges we can use help with:
Setup and teardown
Pyronica is big enough that it takes multiple hours of solid work for one person to set up or pack up. This goes much faster with team members, especially if they know a little about how Pyronica goes together. It's a straightforward job, with lots of light layout and some heavier lifting. Interested in learning about propane fire art safety and how Pyronica works? Reach out!
Some performances may not provide the time for an hours-long setup or teardown process. For these, delivering a set-up Pyronica on its transport trailer could enable a new class of performance. The main challenge here is to modify the support frame so it is stable on the moving platform of the trailer.
The visual presentation of Pyronica itself could be much more engaging. It is currently very utilitarian, reflecting the challenges of making it work at all and minimizing the effort to set up and tear down. How do you envision it looking? Would you like to contribute to making that happen?
Operations
"Operating" Pyronica requires someone always present, so being able to take shifts helps hugely. This is a very interactive role, mainly encouraging people to play the keyboard, enjoying their delight, and answering some of the questions people have. And basic safety: ensuring people stay outside the well-marked safety perimeter and knowing where the Emergency Power Off and fuel shutoff switches are. Pyronica has never had a significant safety event, and we want to keep it that way.
With its third octave, Pyronica's propane consumption is approaching 25 lbs. per hour. With performances usually lasting 3-5 hours, this starts to add up. Much of this is for the pilot lights, which need to be turned up when it's windy. Redesigning the pilot light system could be a real benefit.
Pipe Tuning
Keeping each note in tune has been the big problem preventing fire organs from being more popular. We have unraveled some of the fundamental causes and made good progress on this, but there is more to do. Especially in windy conditions, air still can get into the pipes and change their pitch. This can be mitigated by putting "ears" on the sides of each pipe mouth. The challenge with this is that the current pilot lights become much less effective at igniting the bursts of propane when the pipes sound. A redesigned pilot light setup could address this as well as potentially reducing the propane consumption rate.
The shape of the pipe and mouth is central to how the pipe sounds and what harmonics it generates. There are centuries of experimentation and development for air-based pipe organs, much of which could be applied here to improve the quality of each note. You can hear the differences from note to note, caused by inconsistent fabrication techniques. There is a large opportunity to explore the effects of pipe diameter and shape, nicks and beards, windway size, and supply pressure.
Expansion: More notes! More flames!
The pipes are "stopped", meaning they are capped at the end. This lowers the pitch of the pipe by an octave relative to unstopped pipes, which is normally used for the lower octaves to help reduce the size of the pipes needed. But it becomes a problem when reaching higher octaves, as the pipes become very small. The resonant chamber of the highest note in octave 5 is less than four inches long and half an inch wide. It would be helpful to figure out how to make unstopped pipes work with Pyronica. They sound properly when not lit, but when lit the combustion gets inside the pipe and disrupts the resonance. It might be possible to prevent this with a mesh screen that prevents the flame from traveling into the pipe. This is an area for future work that will probably be necessary to expand to higher octaves.
If you would like to help support pyronica with any of these challenges please click here to reach out and/or click the link below to donate!
