Solo Kinetic Sculpture takes flight!

David recently released another new kinetic sculpture.  This one is Solo and it again incorporates one of his favorite themes, flight. He is applying a new mechanism to drive this and is very pleased with the end result.

Visit the website to see a video and more photographs of this new piece.  It is being produced in an edition of 95 and runs for 11 hours per winding.

A search of his portfolio shows that he has designed 17 flight related designs over the past 35 plus years. Click here to explore them all and see a little history along the way!

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