Inversion - Motion Mobile

Here is a wonderful kinetic mobile created for Festo, a company that specializes in automation. It is a helium filled flying object that turns itself inside out.

This is a constant and rhytmic motion called inversion.  Here is a short stop action video posted by Daniel Wall showing the shapes and how this motion is achieved. It includes a dodecahedron followed by the simpiler Schatz cube which was named after mathemetician Paul Schatz.

We have several widgets in our collection that were derived from this concept including a hexyflex wire model.

I'd love to see the helium version in motion but I can't find any reference as to where this sculpture is located. Anyone know?

 via Dug North Automata Blog

Perennial Flux • Kinetic Sculpture by Benjamin Cowden

This photo caught my eye as I was exploring kinetic sculpture on Pinterest the other day.

Following the info I discovered it was created by Benjamin Cowden of Oakland, California and he has a video posted on YouTube which greatly enhances the understanding of any kinetic sculpture!

He also has a web presence at TwentySevenGears. Visit it to see more of his interactive mechanical sculpture.

I also noted by looking through his website that he is currently the head of the Kinetics and Robotics department at The Crucible in Oakland, CA And he teaches course there. Might be a resources for those of you looking to learn more about creating kinetic sculpture.

The Motion of Ripples

Here is a video showing a fascinating motion built into a wooden automata piece by Dean O'Callaghan. 

Mr. O'Callaghan is from Bath UK and there is more information about his work here, although no mention of this sculpture.  The cam action just pulls you right in visually.  

The theme of water droplets falling into a puddle is one that has caught David's attention as well. Although he seldom starts trying to portray a specific motion, we often see reminders of motion in the finished piece. Such is the case with Summer Rain from 2010.

Turning Head by Marcus Raetz

Here is a very different twist on the kinetic sculpture concept by Marcus Raetz. Raetz is a Swiss artist whose body of work repeats the themes of perception and illusion. Although I have seen many other sculptures by Raetz, this is the only kinetic piece I have seen by him. He definitely is continuing to explore illusion here. Two spinning cylinders constructed of rotating metal plates create a surprise illusion in the negative space, and one that changes!

Your can see more of Marcus Raetz work here.

via Colossal

5000 Moving Parts • Kinetic Sculpture at MIT

Last week we went up to Cambridge, MA to see the newest kinetic sculpture show at the MIT Museum. The museum always has an Arthur Ganson exhibit but through November, 2014 they also have an additional gallery dedicated to kinetic sculpture. It makes a visit doubly inspirational.  The exhibit, titled 5000 Moving Parts includes the work of five kinetic sculptors, Arthur Ganson, Anne Lilly, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, John Douglas Powers and Takis.

Haliades by John Douglas Powers

David assembled a short video montage of some of the pieces in the exhibit because one must see the motion! And hear the noise!

Although kinetic sculptures are meant to move, they often create fascinating still photographs as well.

Machine with Breath by Arthur Ganson

Machine with Breath by Arthur Ganson

Another Dream by Arthur Ganson 1997 (Ganson Exhibit)

Ialu by John Douglas Powers

Ialu by John Douglas Powers

Ialu by John Douglas Powers

To Conjugate by Anne Lilly

And I found another viewer's video collage of the show up on YouTube. Here is the impressions of the show assembled by Joykrit Mitra.

 We have recommended the MIT Museum on this blog before but it is a great time to visit with this new exhibit. If you are traveling to Boston be sure and add it to your itinerary. Advance warning though - find it on Google maps first. It is tucked away in an MIT corner.

Additional Resources;

Larua Knot is the curator for the show and she has started a kinetic blog about the show that includes some fascinating information about assembling this exhibit. The blog is located here.

And the Boston Globe did a review of the show here worth reading as well.