Club Scout

Man learned to use fire thousands of years ago, so it's about time machines got on the ball. The Motoman Project provides a glimpse of what happens when robots use flame as a method of creative expression -- and when audio-video technicians team up with industrial-engineering artists. Featured as the latest installation in the monthly Red Reel series at Rock Island, Motoman will perform demo exhibitions (utilizing fun toys like the tesla coil, air cannon and pulse-jet robot) and screen a new video project, Emergence, on Thursday, July 11. The group specializes in the "exploration of human imagination," though audiences could be forgiven for merely gawking at its mechanical wizardry and sensory-overloading light show. Adding to the sublimity of the Motoman performance at the buggy LoDo club, Rock Island displays gallery works by a number of local independent artists. Feel the burn.