Kiwi YouTube star filming science series in Auckland

Kiwi YouTube star filming science series in Auckland

This winter, MOTAT hosts the filming of Jiwi’s Machines, a comedy web-series created by YouTube star Joseph Herscher. In the series, Herscher plays Jiwi, a curious and lovable character in the grand tradition of physical comedians like Buster Keaton and Mr Bean. Funded by NZ On Air, Jiwi’s Machines will package Rube Goldberg machines, slapstick comedy and cool interactive videos into an immersive online science experience for Kiwi kids aged 6-11.

Filmed in MOTAT’s exhibition halls, the set of Jiwi’s Machines will be visible to the Museum’s visitors, where they can watch Joseph and his team build and test their machines and see the director and cast rehearse. This is not only a chance to see how Rube Goldberg machines are made, but also to experience how a series is prepared. Examples of Rube Goldberg machines, including interactive games, models, and videos of Joseph’s earlier creations will also be on display.

Rube Goldberg machines (also known as Heath Robinson devices) are overly complicated contraptions with lots of moving parts that ultimately perform very simple tasks. Each episode of Jiwi’s Machines will feature at least one big machine, built by Jiwi from everyday items you’d find around a New Zealand house.

Featured in each of Jiwi’s contraptions is one (or more) of the six basic machines that form the building blocks of all mechanisms: the lever, wheel and axle, pulley, inclined plane, wedge and screw. These simple machines can also be experienced first-hand in MOTAT’s popular Welcome to the Machine exhibition. Jiwi’s Machines also introduces concepts like friction, gravity, speed, distance, oppositional forces, chemical reactions, and many more.

“There is great synergy between Jiwi’s Machine’s emphasis on local science and culture and MOTAT’s strategy to inspire the innovators of tomorrow by showcasing Kiwi ingenuity and technology in an interactive way” says MOTAT CEO, Michael Frawley. “We are incredibly excited to have the crew onsite as they use everyday items to solve problems and demonstrate physics in action.”

During his time at MOTAT, Joseph will be running limited edition workshops on Saturday 5 and 12 September. Participants will work in teams and be challenged to think creatively as they design, construct and test their own Rube Goldberg machine from everyday materials using a combination of levers, pulleys, gears, inclined planes, screws, wheels and axles. This gives children the once in a lifetime opportunity to meet Joseph, one of the world’s best-known Rube Goldberg machine creators, and spend time exercising their ‘design and build’ skills while getting hands-on with the six simple machine types.

Joseph is delighted to be filming at MOTAT, having visited the Museum regularly since he was a small thing (he grew up just a few blocks away). “It feels absolutely right to be building my machines at MOTAT,” says Joseph. “And because we are doing it in one of the public galleries, we’ll actually be a live exhibition, which is cool!”

ENDS

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