SOMA By Flaming Lotus Girls

It takes my out of town friends to drag me out of my cave to realize what cool things I am missing. SOMA lights aka the Neruons are really awesome… I think Ann S said it all… much better so read her review.
there is a really cool walking tour (which my out of town guests took me on)
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That particular piece of art work was very beautiful if only it lit up on pushing the buttons even through ut the day because i wasn’t able to stay until night. Even though i was pretty darn close. To bad its being taken out

At the foot of Mission Street on the Embarcadero is the public arts space at Pier 14 Plaza. The recently installed «Soma» replaces the shiny silver «Raygun Gothic Rocketship». Soma, which first premiered at Burning Man. is the first public arts installation by the Flaming Lotus Girls, a volunteer group of artists.
Soma is the artists’ depiction of two brain neurons. The original sculpture emitted fire, but the fire has been replaced by 97 LED lights with illuminated dendrites. At sunset, visitors can touch a switch located at the corners of the sculpture’s platform to change the colors and the flickering of the LED lights. An interactive sculpture!
If you’re at the Embarcadero, check out Soma, the newest public sculpture on display as it will be here for a maximum of two years.

Contained within the human body, there are various types of neurons. Through these particular neurons, electrical signals travel from the brain, through the nervous system, and outward to control what we experience as bodily function and movements.
I don’t know about chuuuu, but these types of things are a complete turn on. Yowzas.
And by complete turn on… who can resist knowing the fact that the structure of a neuron including dendrites, cell bodies, axon terminals, and axons coated with myelin sheaths, all compiled to help with transporting electrical impulses to one another.
Now that’s HAWT.
With this art structure displayed here at the Embarcadero Waterfront, one can truly appreciate just how sexy a neuron can be.
*fans self*
This art piece was featured at the Burning Man in 2009 and has since been to Vegas, and is now proudly displayed on wooden platforms at Pier 14. Anticipated to sit for one year and possibly for a second, the aptly named structure, SOMA, showcases 97 LED lights to symbolize the synaptic reaction to neurons firing.
Artist Kimberly Jones, with the immense help of Flaming Lotus Girls and Black Rock Arts Foundation, lent generous funds and infrastructure to make this beautiful vision come into actualization.
Created to appreciate neuron activity, you can expect to see flickering lights transmitting from one bulb to the other at one push of a button. This light display is active from sunset to 2am.
Bravo to the dedication of the multitude of volunteers and support that now allows us to enjoy such innovation.
Now if you’ll excuse me… I’ll need a cold shower.
Damn that sexy beast.

#clevergirl the name isn’t only the surrounding SF neighborhood but also a scientific biological term loosely represented by the sculpture. But I didn’t understand; I pressed one of the actuator buttons, I pressed the other one, some random tourist and I pressed both together… nothing. Maybe it was too bright out there for the LEDs? But the way things are wired, it seems like stuff in the nuclei or whatever were supposed to move. Still a cool artwork.