Circuits, animatronics and a ‘smart beehive’ at Maximillian Lawrence’s ‘Feature Creep’

Artist and well-known time traveler Maximillian Lawrence went back to the future for inspiration.

This time around, the result of his time warping was a solo show at the University City Science Center’s Esther Klein Gallery titled “Feature Creep” (a term used to describe the excessive expansion or addition of new features in a software product). The artist, who is an engineering professor at the Science Leadership Academy by day, adopted the term to describe the process of life creeping into a piece of artwork.

The exhibit, which opened to the public last week, features transdisciplinary collaborations with artists like Broderick Bauman, David Ryskalczyk, Phil Ryskalczyk, Troy Taylor, Samantha Witchen and Zhi Zhang.

“My name is at the headline but it’s a group of about 40 people collaborating on this,” Lawrence told Technical.ly. “It’s nice to be able to be around a group of artists and be in a room together, respecting each other’s field of expertise.”

Aside from more traditional techniques like sketching and sculptures, the exhibit also features multimedia projects involving circuits, animatronics and sound. The coolest feature? A “smart beehive” with live streaming data made in collaboration with Rhode Island School of Design student Wynn Geary.

“I suspect visitors will be little confused by it all,”  Lawrence admits. “But ultimately I hope they’ll be able to put some thought into what the relationships are between things like sciences, engineering and even horticulture.”