Kinetic sculpture of how the mechanism works. Kinetic sculptures from around the world

20.06.2019

Kinetic art in last years is at the peak of popularity, because masters who have mastered light and movement manage to achieve a stunning effect - to overcome the static nature of sculpture. Our review contains 8 of the most original examples of how art objects come to life.

1.Fantastic mechanism from the artist Lime Young

Kinetic sculpture by South Korean artist Laimi Yang

Lime Young is a true virtuoso. The master manages to construct the most complex mechanisms from circuit boards, microprocessors, servos and other mechanical devices. When put into action, his kinetic sculptures have a magnetic effect on viewers, because it is simply impossible for the average person to solve the mystery of the mechanism.

2.Car silhouettes made from metal spheres

Kinetic sculpture at the BMW Museum

The kinetic sculpture at the BMW Museum appeared several years ago, but still causes delight. 714 metal spheres fold into the shape of car models different years release.

3. Wing Flap by Bob Potts

Kinetic sculpture of Bob Potts

70-year-old sculptor Bob Potts creates minimalist, but no less impressive works. His kinetic sculptures imitate the flapping of a bird's wings or the movement of an oar while rowing. It’s amazing how the master manages to convey the trajectory of movement so accurately.

4. "Dancing" sculptures by Anthony Howe

Kinetic sculpture by Anthony Howe

Anthony Howe works with a rough material - steel reinforcement, but creates surprisingly harmonious kinetic sculptures. In calm weather they look elegant and sophisticated, and with the first breath of wind they begin their fancy dance.

5. "Mechanical Fish" by art group ArtMechanicus

Kinetic sculpture from the art group ArtMechanicus

Thanks to the efforts of the art group ArtMechanicus, more than one “mechanical fish” has been born. The collection of Moscow masters includes “Fish-House”, reminiscent of Noah’s Ark, “Fish-Knight”, personifying a lonely horseman, “Nut Fish”, symbolizing the desire for beauty, and “Fish-ram” - an allegory of the struggle between living and inanimate principles.

6. Wooden Wonders by David Roy

David Roy gives his kinetic sculptures touching and tender names - “Fiesta”, “Summer Rain”, “Sun Dance”, “Serenade”, “Zephyr”. Wooden creations are set in motion by the wind and immediately become light and graceful.

Anthony Howe (born 1954 in Salt Lake City, Utah) is an American sculptor who creates autonomous kinetic sculptures driven by wind power.

Having received art education at Cornell University and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Howe began his creative career in 1979-1985, as an artist. He painted pastoral landscapes in a house he built himself on a remote mountain peak in New Hampshire. His paintings have been exhibited at Gallery on the Green in Lexington, Massachusetts.

In 1985, Anthony Howe moved to New York and began making kinetic sculptures. In 1994, he moved to Orcas Island in the San Juan Archipelago (Washington State), where he again built a house and opened his own gallery. Howe's work became widely known in the late 1990s.

“For the last 17 years I have been creating autonomous kinetic sculptures that interact with wind and light environment. I try to create objects whose appearance resembles low-tech sci-fi equipment, astronomical or microbiological models. The material used for the sculptures is primarily stainless steel, driven by forged curved elements or flat disks covered with fiberglass. Multi-shaft, carefully balanced shapes, both symmetrical and asymmetrical, create a moving, soothing three-dimensional image of harmony. An outboard gear motor is mounted inside the sculptures.”, says Anthony Howe.

Howe starts with digital modeling using software Rhinoceros 3D, then the steel elements of the sculptures are made using plasma cutting and assembled using traditional metal working techniques.

© Anthony Howe, 2013. OCTO 3 . Stainless steel. 7.6 m high x 9.1 m wide x 9.1 m deep. 3200 kg. 16 connected blades rotating on a circular shaft. Withstands wind speeds of 90 mph. Various night lighting options are available. Sold to Dubai, UAE.

Even the lightest breeze can set dozens of rotating parts of the sculptures in motion. Howe says he takes great care to test his sculptures for wind resistance. One way is to mount the sculpture on your Ford F-150 and then drive it down the freeway.

“I was tired of everything still in my visual world.”, explains Howe, who considers motionless sculptures to be lifeless.

" received new article"". It's really interesting mechanisms, similar to living beings. It is based on the laws of computer and natural evolution. The first sculptures were sailed. The last animals walk in the calm, sense water and obstacles, remember the path and even protect themselves from storms.

Theo Jansen's kinetic sculpture runs only on wind energy: there are no gasoline, diesel, electric, etc. engines. Energy for movement is stored in bottles. General overview about Theo Jansen's kinetic sculptures can be obtained from the video:

And if you like, we will consider more detailed design features further.

So, for starters, the operating principle of one stilted part.

These are the dimensions of the 11 leg components.

The legs, in turn, are attached to a kind of spine. The spine in this case is a crankshaft, which can either simply transmit movement, or be rotated using propellers, compressed air, and so on.

The best leg movement occurs when the foot describes something like a triangle with rounded vertices. The different proportions of the 11 components of the leg produce different geometric shapes when moving. The author of the sculptures experimented a lot, in particular with computer models, to find the ideal ratio of the parts of the leg. This relationship can be presented somewhat more clearly with the help of the following video. It also gives a different interpretation. appearance legs of a kinetic sculpture.

By the way, computer modeling did not give any special results due to the huge number of options geometric shapes, which the foot of the leg can describe. For example, each of the 11 leg components can have 10 length options. This results in more than a million possible curves. The computer would work on them for hundreds of years. I had to turn to the method of computer evolution.

So, the computer selected 1,500 random variants of the lengths of the leg components. And he appreciated the geometric shapes that the foot of each leg describes:

Out of 1,500 options for geometric shapes, the 100 most optimal ones were selected. Accordingly, there were 100 types of combinations of different lengths of leg parts.

From these lengths of parts (the rest were eliminated), another 1,500 leg options were randomly created. From these, 100 legs with the most optimal curves were selected. Based on the resulting lengths of the parts, new 1,500 leg options were created - and so on.

The cycle repeated itself day and night for many months. The final result is the leg of Animaris Currens Vulgaris, the first animal to walk independently on a beach. But this leg was not ideal either; the animal stopped periodically. So the evolution continued :)

Here is an example of a set of numbers that give a more or less moving leg:

a = 38, b = 41.5, c = 39.3, d = 40.1, e = 55.8, f = 39.4, g = 36.7, h = 65.7, i = 49, j = 50, k = 61.9, l=7.8, m= 15

Another calculation of the leg components, carried out in Matkada:

And here is another example of calculating the components of the legs:

Based on this calculation, a kinetic sculpture is also built:

In this video you can get a good look at sets of plastic bottles that are used to store wind energy:

The wind moves the sails on the crankshaft, the energy is transferred to the bicycle pump, which pumps up the bottles. This takes several hours. But how can you make an animal move, and even automatically? This requires muscles. Muscle is a tube within a hollow tube, which can cause it to lengthen. Elongation is caused by the inflation of a rubber ball, which increases in volume and pushes the inserted pipe.

Some enthusiasts are trying to develop real vehicles based on them:

Well, the author himself believes that this type of movement is a revolution in the world of technology, comparable in importance to the invention of the wheel. The way these creatures move is based on the principle of the wheel (there is an axis that is always horizontal to the ground), but everything else is different. This is an advantage over a wheel, especially in hard-to-reach places such as sand.

An excellent example of a kinetic sculpture with a “hamster” engine:

Interview with Theo Jansen with Russian subtitles:

The main components of modern kinetic sculptures from Theo Jansen:

The stilted legs we talked about earlier.
Engines are also the windage of sculptures.
Batteries, they are also fan-shaped things on sculptures and plastic bottles, where the air is pumped.
Signal transmission system - tubes transmitting compressed air and check valves with springs.
Obstacle and soil moisture monitoring system (if the probes encounter insurmountable obstacles, they turn the sculpture back).
Water sensing system (based on sucking water into bottles, increasing pressure and sending the animal back).
The animal's brain is a system of bottles, valves, tubes), working according to binary system. The brain counts steps from obstacle to obstacle. Therefore, when the animal reaches water, etc., and turns back, it knows how long to go back.
Storm protection system (hammer, which when strong wind drives the stakes on the nose of the sculpture into the ground).

There will be more in the future :)

These are the original living kinetic sculptures from Theo Jansen.

Kinetic art in recent years has been at the peak of popularity, because masters who have mastered light and movement manage to achieve a stunning effect - to overcome the static nature of sculpture. In our review - 8 most original examples as art objects come to life.

1.Fantastic mechanism from the artist Lime Young

2.Car silhouettes made from metal spheres

appeared several years ago, but still causes delight. 714 metal spheres are folded into the shape of car models of different years.

3. Wing Flap by Bob Potts

4. "Dancing" sculptures by Anthony Howe

works with rough material – steel reinforcement, but creates surprisingly harmonious kinetic sculptures. In calm weather they look elegant and sophisticated, and with the first breath of wind they begin their fancy dance.

5. "Mechanical fish" from the art group ArtMechanicus

6. Wooden Wonders by David Roy

David Roy gives his own touching and tender names - “Fiesta”, “Summer Rain”, “Sun Dance”, “Serenade”, “Zephyr”. Wooden creations are set in motion by the wind and immediately become light and graceful.

7. Kinetic device that plays the violin. By Seth Goldstein

Seth Goldstein is a mechanical engineer who managed to create a device that can copy the movement of hands. The kinetic sculpture, equipped with drives, rotors, pulleys and computer chips, recognizes audio files played on an electronic keyboard and then plays a melody on the violin.

8.Giant animal sculptures by Theo Jansen

Theo Jansen creates giant miracle monsters that, obeying gusts of wind, come to life from plastic tubes, cable cord, nylon ropes and adhesive tape. And then he arranges fun beach walks for insectoid animals. Without a doubt, .