"QUANTUM SHOT" #567 Link - article by M. Christian and Avi Abrams
If this page could move in tune with these sculptures, it would crawl out of your computer monitor
There are mentions in the Bible about the whirling "wheels within wheels" (Ezekiel 1:16). Admittedly the examples listed below are no match for what Heaven and angels can put together, but some of the following "living, breathing" kinetic work are clearly bordering on genius.
Without a doubt, with no hyperbole: Theo Jansen is an absolute genius. Listen to his talk about the new creatures he builds from "plastic tubes and lemonade bottles"...
Vermeer, Leeuwenhoek, Huygens... in this company of other talented Dutchmen, Theo Jansen is a sculptor: he creates, from his own mind and imagination, intricate mechanisms. There have been other sculptors who've created work that moves – and there will be again – but what makes Theo’s work so amazing, so blindingly brilliant, is that his creations walk, stroll, stride, amble... and live almost "independent" from their creator on a deserted beach.
Instead of being powered by primitive steam or modern electricity, Theo’s creations are propelled by the air, by wind. They are strolling clipper ships, sauntering sailboats. (A well-known video of these creatures in motion can be seen here)
Just watch them -- they’re hypnotic, dreamy. Undulating beasts marching along the seaside, elaborate mechanisms walking through the surf spray ….
The natural algorithms... and the energy of prayer
First about prayer - rather, prayer wheels in Tibet - which will generate "green" (meaning absolutely free and clean) energy every time someone spins the wheel, which will be quite a lot: there are millions of tourists and locals visiting this location. Read more about it here:
From this supernatural aspect (really, just ingenious mechanics), we move to Nature's geometric forms and surprising algorithms, stating with so-called Voronoi-Knauss cell cluster (more info):
"The walls between art and engineering exist only in our minds." (Theo Jansen)
Theo Jansen is not the only magnificently original artist out there doing things with gears and pulleys and wire and leverage. Many other artist/engineers are working on a wide range of ways to mix mechanical joints with organic precision to create devices that walk like living creatures -- though whether those creations are as whimsical as Jansen's is open to debate.
"The Vex Walker" robot is going to be available as a kit, so anybody can built this and set it free in your kitchen:
These beasts utilize a mechanical linkage principle different from Theo Jansen's, called the Klann linkage. See the comparison of the two on this page
BMW Museum in Munich has recently unveiled the groovy "floating chrome balls" kinetic sculptures (watch the long, soothing video here) The balls are seemingly weightless, and glued together by the "power of the mind", according to the creators ART+COM:
We featured art of Andrew Smith before, but his kinetic sculptures are also top-of-the-line, so don't forget to browse his "Kinetic" gallery and watch the video:
We covered one truly spectacular group, based in Nantes: La Machine on Dark Roasted Blend before. Lead by François Delarozière, this team of engineers and artists has created some truly awesome devices for various amazing events:
(images credit: David Mayo, Matthew Andrews, La Machine)
Recently, for instance, a 37-ton spider descended down the side of a building in Liverpool, in the United Kingdom. To say that the sight of this nightmarish creature took the city by surprise is an understatement.
Entrancing... dazzlingly hypnotic
Since we’re chatting about amazing mechanical/artistic creations, we have to mention the artist Frederick Roland Emett. Sure, you can point to Rube Goldberg, who certainly deserves praise, but Frederick Roland Emett has a leg up on Goldberg for his incredibly diverse work (more info).
Not only are his illustrations wild, fanciful, and outrageous but he also created many insanely elaborate sculptures and creations. Looking like Willy Wonka’s hallucinations, or Dr. Suess' nightmares, Emett’s sculptures have an entrancing craziness that’s dazzlingly hypnotic:
"The S.S. (Space Ship) Pussiewillow II", on display at Smithsonian
This is utterly brilliant! I am very fond of gadgets myself and wrote a fiction blog for two years about a boy who was very keen on them and he went to the James Bond exhibition at the Science Museum. Addy
This is amazing! Have you checked out the Spy Museum in DC? It's full of things like this ranging from the beginning of spying all the way up to what they're doing today and things that may be available in the future. Well worth the money.
There's a spy shop near where I live. I went in there recently expecting to see awesome gadgets like this but all they carried were nanny cams and the hidden safe versions of a bunch of household items. Thanks for giving me my spy gear fix!
Anything by Tim Powers is a worthwhile read, he is my favorite author by far. Anubis Gate does stand out, as does Earthquake Weather and Expiration Date.
Again in Saigon, what is it about Vietnam and extreme wiring?Seismic activity plus lack of planning. In Japan you have also a lot of wires, but they are at least better planned.
The keep teasing us with the e-ink watch but the only one that ever went into general production was a half inch thick and all it could do was make the dial color either white or black.
Fantastic clocks, especially the one thats half missing(the second one) I will have to make one like that!
There are two more sci-fi sculpture clocks here: http://www.marty.com.au/sci-fi-gallery/art-sculpture/7-countdown.html which is a self destruct mechanism out of a space ship coveted into a clock and http://www.marty.com.au/sci-fi-gallery/art-sculpture/11-sci-fi-clock-is-a-time-travellers-best-friend.html which is designed or time travellers.
That SEIKO watch is amazing! It doesn't seem to be an actual product, however. It seems like plausible technology, however. A roll-up flat-screen monitor, in full color, was shown off at SIGGRAPH last year...
Superbe, especially the vintage ones made by Haruo Suekichi, they remembered me about the movies La cite des enfants perdus (1995), seemed like stuff made out of Jules Verne books.
And then the alarm clock that you could smack to stop the alarm, I became nostalgic remembering Pink Panther, how she broke her alarm clock in the morning and orTom si Jerry cartoons:-) So long time ago.
Spendid design. Hard to find them though on the market.
Is and old merchandising from a 1963 japanese film, called Matango. Is about a mutant killer mushroms who live in an island and a castaways who arrive there. You can see it here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVyRYjJoZfc
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3 Comments:
the Voronoi-Knauss cell cluster looks like the coat hangers in the bottom of my closet.
I have open-source plans for a Jansen Walker up on my site, if anyone wants to build their own check out http://4volt.com/projects/jansen/
If you want to make a sequel, i strongly suggest a post about a guy named Jean Tinguély. Friend and lover of Niki de St Phalle.
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