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Station to Station: Colored smoke, stretching stars, and Google Glass (pictures)

A train full of artists crossing the nation stops in Santa Fe, N.M., to unleash a yurt installation and an experimental art festival.

Amanda Kooser
Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET. When not wallowing in weird gear and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.
Amanda Kooser
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Station to Station in Santa Fe

The Santa Fe Rail Yard in Northern New Mexico played host to Station to Station, a traveling art train that left New York on September 6 and will arrive in Oakland, Calif., on September 28. The stops along the way provided opportunities for the public to view yurts -- circular domed tents -- customized by artists along with musical performances.
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Kenneth Anger's yurt

Kenneth Anger is known for his experimental art film shorts. A selection of his classic works played on three flat-screen TVs inside this red yurt as part of the Station to Station traveling public art display.
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'Lucifer Rising' plays in a yurt

Kenneth Anger's experimental 1972 art film "Lucifer Rising" plays inside a yurt as part of the Station to Station experience. Throughout the Santa Fe event, visitors filtered in to view the work, some sitting to watch, others staying only briefly. Other yurts on display included a fog-filled yurt with a white bed and disco ball, and a yurt full of local craftspeople.
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Artist Liz Glynn in a yurt

Arist Liz Glynn gives visitors a peek inside the vision for her yurt as part of the Station to Station traveling performance and art event. Glynn's yurt tackles the big subject of the expanding universe and our place in it. The yurt itself requires a headlamp to navigate and is designed with dead-end hallways branching out.
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Expanding-universe yurt

The city of yurts at the Station to Station traveling art and music festival really stand out in Santa Fe's rail yard area. This is the exterior of artist Liz Glynn's yurt, an explorable art project that has been evolving at every stop on the tour.
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Inside the universe yurt

Artist Liz Glynn's expanding-universe yurt project asks visitors to consider their place in the cosmos. Her unlit yurt is completely black except for messages written in white, viewable with the use of a headlamp. It is part of the Station to Station nomadic public art tour.
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Smoke art billows up

This smoke art display billowed up during the Station to Station traveling art tour that is crossing the country by train. The multicolored smoke was accompanied by a procession of people wearing unusual headgear crafted of yarn. The smoke-bomb art is the creation of Olaf Breuning.
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Levis sponsors Station to Station

Unlike the art happenings of the 1970s, Station to Station has a corporate sponsor. Clothing company Levis had its own yurt full of classic Levis wares for visitors to handle and try on.
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An art missive

The area all around the Station to Station art festival hosted posters, including this one, exhorting viewers to, "Fight the war against boring people." Another poster showed a recipe for a cactus omelette. These random missives contributed to the "art happening" vibe of the event.
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A real train shows up

The real Station to Station art train couldn't put in an appearance at the Santa Fe event, but the New Mexico Rail Runner, a train that runs between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, did show up. Station to Station artists are traveling on a special train from New York to Oakland, Calif., making stops along the way for art performances.
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Handsome Family drums with a MacBook

Each stop of the Station to Station traveling art festival includes a musical lineup. The Handsome Family played at the Santa Fe stop. Here, Brett Sparks looks down at his drummer for the night, a MacBook.
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Google Glass sighting

A photographer capturing the Station to Station nomadic art event sports a developer's edition version of Google Glass. Most of the attendees at the event were well kitted out with technology items. The control station for the concert featured a huge helping of computer gear and flat-panel displays for running and recording the event.
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Projected art from bicycles

Two bikes showed up later in the evening at the Station to Station public art tour event in Santa Fe. Both bikes were geared up with pico projectors displaying colorful abstract imagery on the ground and onto an umbrella above.
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Cat Power headlines

Musician Cat Power headlined the Santa Fe stop of the Station to Station nomadic art tour. She performed in front a massive screen projected with railroad videos. The tour began in New York and will end in Oakland, Calif. on September 28.

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