A Performance Act Pitting Man Against Electricity.
The brainchild and alter ego of my friend, physicist Austin Richards, Doctor Megavolt dates to the late 1990's when Austin built a metal suit out of heating ducting from Home Depot, put a birdcage on his head, and stepped into the arcs of a tesla coil built by a colleague from the UC Berkeley physics department.
This was happening at the same time that my friends and I were running Toxixity, an art space in the Temescal district of north Oakland, where we hosted bands, djs, artist, put on film festivals. Good times! This was also a time when industrial art was big in the Bay Area, and before the massive tech boom priced such spaces beyond the means of many artists.
After a number of performances around the bay, the obvious next step was to take the show to where it would be truly appreciated - the annual Burning Man festival in Nevada. And a playa legend was born.
Its a pretty spectacular show - the device itself standing almost 10 feet high, the metal suit, that evolved from a clunky robot look (it was first called Electro-bot) to the flexible mesh that allowed real movement, and then the coil starts spitting massive one million volt arcs through the hair, emitting a ripping buzzing sound, splitting the air so the smell of ozone wafts through the crowd, and then the Dr steps into the arcs, creating a connection through to the ground...
As we rolled across the playa on our truck and set up to peform, the crowds would form around us. In the 90's and early 2000's, the white/purple bolts of the coil really stood out against the darkness of the desert, and contrasted with the the orange and yellow of flame that characterized many of the other works.
The show was always a collaboration, with a shifting team performing, running the equipment, and providing technical know-how. Lots of super smart and creative people were involved! A major step came with the addition of Mistress Megavolt, performed by Victoria Charters, Austin's wife.
My main involvement was in the late 90s, but I'd help out on and off over the decade to follow, culminating with the release of a feature length documentary by Victoria that debuted at ComicCon in San Diego in 2015.
The show has since travelled the world, with countless performances in front of thousands. It also helped spark a renewed interest in Tesla coils (and the man himself!) and at this point there are many who have come up with their own variations. But don't be fooled by cheap imitators! Dr. Megavolt is the OG of Tesla Coil performance art :)
And, yes. I've been in the suit. It's awesome. But this stuff is pretty dangerous. We were always proud to say there was never an accident that resulted in serious injury to performers, crew, or audience.
Find more infohere at the official: Dr. Megavolt Website.
Here's the trailer for the documentary. You can see an enthusiastic me at around the 2:05 mark.
For more videos, here's youtube search results with more than you can shake a burning 2x4 at.
(banner photo is not mine, and who the actual photographer was is lost to the depths of time. And I don't have a lot of media from those days. This is from when we used FILM man, and that was expensive! We were bohemian artists! And I was like doing stuff during the shows you know! So I don't have a lot of pictures of the thing, like actually happening!)
