(piano music)
- The beginning and the end are the high points,
and in the middle,
it's kinda this, like,
rollercoaster of,
"It's gonna work.
"It's not gonna work.
"It's gonna work.
"It's not gonna work."
(piano music)
When you're seven months in,
and you're still asking yourself,
"Is this gonna work?"
it's terrifying.
(piano music)
The very highest moment in this process,
is when you are finally standing in front of it,
and you're finally turning it on,
and it's doing what you dreamed it would be.
It's always better than you expected.
(piano music)
Figuring out how to design and build the piece,
that is, by far,
what gives me my kicks.
It's also nice when the piece is done.
But, it's usually that initial stage is
when you really get to sink your teeth into a problem,
and figure out how to do something,
that usually, nobody's done before.
(piano music)
I'm Zolty.
I'm the co-founder and co-director of Breakfast,
which is a fairly unique art studio,
based in DUMBO, in Brooklyn.
There were three of us who started Breakfast,
around 11 years ago.
And we had come from an entirely software background.
But we were getting very tired of seeing
digital only manifest itself in glowing pixels.
And so, we decided to start a studio
that was dedicated to creating in-person experiences.
But, entirely through kinetic mediums.
How can we take all this digital stuff
that exists in our world,
and have it manifest itself,
not in a glowing pixel,
but in something that speaks to people in a different way.
And we've been creating these kinetic pieces,
ever since.
(ticking)
Early on, it was a mix of a lot
of prototypes that we created ourselves.
A lot of them, sort of,
fun and silly,
to get the attention of companies of people.
And so, most of our early work were large scale,
interactive pieces, that were commissioned by brands.
Things of that sort.
And then, it's really been over the last few years
that we've made a much stronger push into the art world.
And then, really into the fine art world,
just in the last six months.
(xylophone)
(ticking)
What is the art world gonna think,
when we start calling this art,
and we start hanging it,
or putting it into the places that
is considered for fine art?
One of the things the art world is struggling with is,
it tends to be leaning, more and more,
towards older people.
It's not, there are not,
a lot of 20- and 30-year-olds
spending a lot of money in art.
And so, they see this as a beacon.
As a way that's bringing in younger people into this world.
I'd say, the most common reaction we're getting is,
"I do not normally like this kind of thing,
"and I absolutely love it."
I think that's always been why we've gone after
these tactile approaches is that
a 2-year-old will have the same reaction
as a 90-year-old.
The way that our pieces come about,
it varies a lot.
I compare it a lot to anyone that writes music.
Sometimes a song (snaps) comes like that.
And sometimes, you're working on it for years.
(electronic xylophone music)
We have an idea for a medium.
And while we're developing it,
we're starting to realize what it can become.
We have a couple ideas at the beginning,
and then it evolves.
Sometimes, we're not even figuring it out
until we finally have it made,
and are playing with the software,
and realize what it actually is.
(whirring and motor noise)
In other cases, we've come up a concept,
and we're going down that path,
and we are making that thing for two years,
to get to that point.
The place that we start mostly today is,
how do we wanna connect the people experiencing our pieces?
Where do we wanna connect them to?
So, they're about connecting you to another place,
another time, another person.
We generally do that through the web,
and using a web connection,
and pulling in real-time data.
So, a lotta times, we start there.
(tiles clicking)
- This one we're looking at here is
one piece out of a Climate Change Series
that we're doing.
This one is called the, "Mauna Loa Air."
And what this is showing in this abstract pattern,
is the current CO2 levels in the air,
in Hawaii, right now.
So, this is connected to the web.
It's constantly pulling in that data.
And the higher those CO2 levels go,
this piece will turn more and more gold.
If the levels drop, it will turn more green.
We also have this mode where,
you stepping in front of it,
it's a way for us to put you in the middle of the artwork,
as a reminder, that you're here,
part of this problem that's going on, right now.
And also, as this data changes,
see the levels go up,
your silhouette will become more and more stronger,
or recede, depending on how those levels are going.
This piece is part of the Climate Change Series, as well.
This one is called, Lake Chapala.
And Lake Chapala is a lake in Mexico,
that's just drying out.
And this piece is also connected to the web.
It's constantly pulling in data about the lake.
As that water level keeps dropping,
the movements that you see in the piece,
is gonna subdue down to,
until there is no movement left.
(xylophone)
All of our pieces are connected to the web.
That's a theme that runs through
almost everything that we do.
And not just connecting our pieces to places,
but also, connecting people to other people.
- When we started Breakfast,
we definitely weren't,
we didn't have our heads in the fine art world.
I don't think we ever imagined,
you know, creating these smaller pieces
that might go into people's homes,
or definitely into galleries and museums.
We're sort of learning as we go.
Most people still don't believe,
that we actually make this stuff.(laughs)
And most people are confused by us,
because we are not a name.
There's no way any one of us,
or any two of us, or any three of us,
can make these things.
Like, it's such a collaborative effort,
between multiple software engineers,
mechanical engineers,
electrical engineers, like,
and so, we're making all of this stuff here.
It's all really happening with these hands.
(piano music)