17 Machines by Arthur Ganson

I've been reflecting on the past few weeks and noticed that no one has shared about kinetic art. Arthur Ganson is the best example of a kinetic sculptor that I know of.

"A modern-day creator of "twittering machines," Arthur Ganson uses simple, plain materials to build witty mechanical art. But the wit is not simply about Rube Goldberg-ian chain-reaction gags (though you'll find a few of those). His work examines the quiet drama of physical motion, whether driven by a motor or by the actions of the viewer. Notions of balance, of rising and falling, of action and reaction and consequence, play themselves out in wire and steel and plastic.
Ganson has been an artist-in-residence at MIT (where the Lemelson-MIT Award Program named him an Inventor of the Week, and where his show "Gestural Engineering" is ongoing) and has shown his work at art and science museums around the world -- including a current, held-over show at the phaeno in Wolfsburg, Germany.

"Ganson's work isn't ruled by a clockwork philosophy; it is open to whatever truths about life and motion his wires, motors, oil, and chains will lend themselves to. His pieces are not, like de Vaucanson's duck, scrupulous mechanical copies of living things, but are instead suggestive -- or, as Ganson puts it, "gestural," frequently grounded in biological and bodily processes but never limited to them."

Harvey Blume, the Atlantic" http://www.ted.com/speakers/arthur_ganson.html

The video below is long but worth it. I know everyone must be busy so fast forward to 21:00. The wishbone and the walking chair are perhaps my favorite pieces. The concept of objects that have life is interesting and just as baffling as the technical mechanics of the work. 


The work discusses the importance and impact of technology in this culture. Ganson's work started in the 1980's. The technological advances since have made me question if  self-moving chairs are possible. Ganson, as an artist, starts the conversation about our future. Where are we headed next? Will there be room for us after such advances (1984)? What is the relationship between natural machines and mechanical machines? 
 




17 Machines by Arthur Ganson from Neil Young, Cloaca on Vimeo.

Jessica