MAKER EVENT // Red Bull Creation Brings the Country's Best Creators to McCarren Park

Are you ready for the ultimate maker battle? We sincerely hope so, because it's happening very soon right here in Brooklyn. On July 7 some of the nation's best hackers, builders and makers will descend upon our borough to take part in Red Bull Creation, an intense 72-hour marathon of technology and creativity. On July 10 they will present what they've made at McCarren Park from 3-7pm. The event is totally free.

We caught up with Red Bull Creation producer Jason Naumoff to get the inside scoop. He's been working with Red Bull for a couple years to put on the event. "This is the year that we finally made it happen," he says. "And New York is the perfect place to do it. Such a great community exists here and has for quite some time. It's a celebration of New York and Brooklyn creativity in particular."

Out of the 16 teams from across the country that qualified for the event, there are naturally a few hometown competitors. NYC Resistor (birthplace of MakerBot) and Alpha One Labs will represent Brooklyn, and ITP, New York University's interactive technology graduate program, will also field an all-star team. Other teams hail from every corner of the U.S., from Texas's Innovation Thirst and Los Angeles' Double Wide to Baltimore's Harford Hackerspace and the Houston/Austin/Portland/San Francisco combo of the Effin Ladies.

While the teams will be scrambling to come up with the most amazing things that they can in their 72 hours, Naumoff says it's more about collaboration and creation than winning. "We're doing something kind of different, an 'uncompetition.' We're going to have a judged award based on some criteria announced the day of the event, but we're also doing a team's choice award, where we'll ask all of the teams which other team they'd really like to work with. We want to create an environment that represents what hacker spaces and build spaces are really about."

There's no doubt that Red Bull Creation will showcase some of today's brightest and most daring makers, but the most exciting part of the event is the unknown. "We just don't know what's going to be built and what's going to happen," Naumoff says. "We're putting out a broad topic, bringing together some really amazing people, giving them the resources to create something, and watching it unfold."

One of the summer's first official, must-see events. Mark your calendars: Red Bull Creation culminates July 10 from 3-7pm at McCarren Park!

Check out a video about Red Bull Creation after jump.

—John Ruscher