This strange contraption is the result of a collaboration between Australian artist David Rogers and US Geological Survey scientist Andy Michael. The ‘seismic art installation’ displays Californian earth quakes in real time by shaking its three-metre high steel rods.

The Parkfield Interventional EarthQuake Fieldwork (PIEQF) exhibit receives data on all earthquakes above magnitude 0.1, of which there are around 40 in the Golden State every day.

Michael and Rogers say they hope the work will help people accept and understand the risks posed by earthquakes.

“The Parkfield installation embodies the extra dimension that art brings to science, helping to visualize what’s going on below the surface in a way science can’t on its own,” says Michael (press release). “David’s art brings earthquakes that happen under California every day to the surface and makes them real and visible for all to see. His work gives everyone a deeper appreciation for how the earth works, and why they need to prepare for the inevitable large and damaging earthquakes.”

If you can’t make it out to Parkfield you can watch on the webcam (note that PIEQF ‘sleeps’ from 9.30 in the evening to 6.30 in the morning).

More pictures below the fold.

Night time shot showing the hydraulic actuators that create the movement.

The artist in the project’s ‘control centre’.

Shot from the air.

Photos by Scott Haefner, USGS.