Life on Mars, Year 3

This is the 3rd year in a row that I’ve spent the three winter months at Mars College.

What is Mars College?

On the website, we describe it as this:

Mars College is a three-month educational program, R&D lab, and off-grid residential community dedicated to cultivating a low-cost, high-tech lifestyle. We are in our sixth year of operation and continue to explore future ways of living and learning.

That description only scratches the surface of what we do here. The people here (Martians) come from diverse backgrounds, and many of us have chosen to avoid working full-time, stepping away from the American capitalist work mentality.

Mars is located near the quirky town of Bombay Beach. Some folks live in town, while others, like me, camp in the desert about a mile away.

The “college” operates in an anarchic, DIY spirit, where we lead workshops, support one another, and pursue a wide range of goals—from building sculptural installations and researching sustainable desert structures to running immersive AI classes, exploring bodywork practices, and much more.

It’s an odd group of people. I love them.

Reset

This time feels like a pause—a reset. It’s a chance to escape the everyday grind of San Francisco, where I often feel overstimulated, over-scheduled, over-cultured, and even over-loved. In my home city, I’m constantly pulled in many different directions.

At Mars and Bombay Beach, there isn’t much to do. We have a dive bar and a convenience store. Entertainment is something we create ourselves. There aren’t many text messages to coordinate plans— it’s a simpler life.

I took a left turn away from the climbing ladder of the art world long ago. That’s a story for another time, but in short, I found its mercenary aspects too off-putting. The gallery scene replicates much of the corporate world I left behind, where status matters, promotion often overshadows value, and the snobbery of art writing fosters elitism.

I’ve always opted for the homegrown and always will. I make things, and I’ll continue my quirky research into sensors and soundscapes.

Daily Life

I’m camping in the desert in my travel trailer, which serves as a temporary art and science lab. I’ve set up a 3D printer, a soldering station, an air filtration system, and an array of sensors and devices.

It’s comfortable. I sleep incredibly well under many blankets, with the cold nights and the silence of the desert. That said, it’s dusty and sometimes challenging. I’m constantly troubleshooting batteries, managing solar power, and figuring out sustainable routines.

There are about 60 of us here, and it’s wonderfully social—something I love. By the time November rolls around in San Francisco, I often feel burnt out from spending too much time alone in my studio. As an extroverted artist, that’s always a challenge.

What I’m doing for Mars 2025

This season, I’m focused on research rather than production, and have several areas of investigation.

Desert Ecology: organizing field trips and science experiments around this amazing area such as collecting Purple Bacteria, checking out sites like Obsidian Mountain, and learning more about air quality.

Purple Bacteria. What I do with my art is build sensors in nature that capture data that humans don’t normally perceive. Last year at Mars, with the help of my friend Marzipan (who is a molecular biologist), we gathered and incubated purple bacteria samples.

Over the summer and fall, I discovered that these bacteria produce small amounts of electricity, with electrical signals that appear to align with circadian rhythms. Their electrical output increases in response to sunlight.

This phenomenon is worth deeper scientific exploration. I plan to deploy my sensors here to track and analyze more samples.

Additionally, I aim to create a future sound installation that translates this data into music, building on my Sensors to Soundscapes work.

Building an Air Quality Mesh Network

The air quality (AQ) in Bombay Beach can become quite poor during dust storms, and higher rates of asthma have been reported in the area. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been enough scientific research conducted here.

Air quality monitors are sparse, so I plan to deploy my custom AQ sensors across the desert, in trailers, and in the homes of Bombay Beach to collect data. I want to explore whether this data can be useful for changing behavior, whether indoor air quality is worse than outdoor, and if any patterns can be identified.

All the data will be pushed to an MQTT server for public access, and I’ll create a simple website to display it in real time.

Prototyping a Solar Boat

I am building a small 3D-printed solar boat (2 feet by 1 foot) for a residency project in the fall. It will be equipped with sensors to measure water quality, oxygenation, and depth using sonar.

 

Picture a small, remote-controlled paddleboat that glides slowly across a lake, transmitting data in real time that can be interpreted audibly.

It’ll be a prototype with no intention to show it, and include documentation on its progress.

Weekly Experiments in Ableton

I use Ableton for sound synthesis and am still at the beginner-to-intermediate stage of mastering its capabilities. While it’s easy to create with, truly understanding what you’re doing reveals countless layers of complexity.

I plan to set a new weekly exercise or area of focus and dive into it, helping me further develop my Sensors to Soundscapes work.

Weekly Experiments in Touch Designer

Touch Designer is the program that takes my raw sensor data and converts it to MIDI notes for Ableton. Unlike the Ableton software, TD not at all easy to figure out how to make things work, but once you do, it sure is powerful.

I want to get proficient at making visual displays of raw data, as they come into Touch Designer, so that my installations can better include a visual component that shows the data itself, from the sensors.

Off Grid Solar

At Mars, we run on solar power, and I’m currently apprenticing with  “Solar Sam” who manages the off-grid solar systems for the entire community.

While I have a solid understanding of microelectronics, I’m new to solar setups and eager to learn how to install panels and manage battery storage for AC in homes, off-grid communities, trailers, and more.

Martian Cocktail Academy

I developed a love for making cocktails during the pandemic and became an amateur “mixologist.” I want to have fun, share knowledge, experiment with techniques, and document the cocktails we create.

This will also be a positive social experience, focused on intentional drinking—exploring how flavors combine—instead of relying on alcohol solely as a social lubricant.

Be a Mentor and Leader

I want to enhance my leadership skills, which includes serving as a “Camp Lead” for the Natural Intelligence Camp here at Mars. We are exploring analog practices, emotional intelligence, and much more. My goal is to help others have a positive and healthy experience during their time here.