The Winding Thoughts Theater

On the side of highway 92, in the small town of Papatowai, New Zealand, lies the Winding Thoughts Theater. Here a man who calls himself the "Lost Gypsy" tinkers away behind a cluttered counter, creating one of a kind musical instruments, kinetic sculptures and many other interactive works of his bizarre imagination. The workshop itself is located in an  big old green double decker bus that has been perminantly installed into the ground. Inside the bus gears, slinkys and various other shiny metal objects hang from the ceiling, while the walls are decorated with tons of crazy inventions made from old clocks, toy trains and bailing wire.
     A short walk behind this old bus takes you through a gate and up a magical pathway to the Winding Thoughts Theater itself. The pathway has loads of distractions like a bicycle powered television, metal creatures that come alive with the crank of a handle and many wind powered contraptions. At the end of the pathway there are three rooms with dimmed lights. One of the rooms has an old piano that has been reconfigured to play koo koo clocks, telephones, alarms and other unidentifiable sounds, but they are actually all in proper keys. As you play this piano it also triggers lights that dangle over your head, changing the dimness of the room. The next room is filled with boxes with attached cranks and buttons. By turning the cranks and pressing the buttons, scenes come alive within the boxes. An elephant rides a unicycle across a tight rope, rain showers over a Map of New Zealand and shells from locals beaches are filled with lights and transformed into ferris wheels. In the final room there is a long stick on the wall with a spoon attached to the tip. As you move the spoon from left to right it hits metal pegs, creating an electric current that triggers various stop lights, construction lights and just about any other light you could imagine in a circle around the room.
     These were just some of my favorite parts of the theater, but there are also tons of brain bending games, fountains and mouse trap elements, that are constantly being perfected by the lost gypsy himself. I myself was really stoked to see that this man could make a living creating these crazy works of his twisted imagination. The Winding Thoughts Theater was very inspiring and even got my own thoughts to wind a bit differently...