Archive for October, 2006
“Bridge is a spectacular new site-specific design commission for Dilston Grove, London (Cafe Gallery Projects) by Michael Cross. Housed in a former church, (one of the earliest examples of poured concrete construction and a Grade II listed building), the piece comprises submerging two thirds of the inside of the church in water, and producing a series of steps which rise out of the apparently empty man-made ‘lake’ as you walk across them. Each step emerges one step in front of you and disappears back underneath behind you as you go. This ‘bridge’ is purely mechanical, the weight of the person on it depresses each step a little, this force activates a submerged mechanism which raises the next step.
The public are invited to walk out on it as if walking on water, eventually reaching the middle of the lake, thirty steps and twelve meters from the shore. There they will stand alone and detached, stranded in the middle of a plane of water until they choose to return the way they came. For some people this experience of being cut off and surrounded by water will be peaceful, for others terrifying. For some walking across the water will be pure childish joy, whilst others will be too scared to try”. (full text) via pixelsumo
October 11th, 2006
Completed a couple of weeks ago at the Materials & Applications research and exhibition site in Los Angeles, I have been meaning to post ‘Bubbles‘ after following its rapid development and construtction on the supporting blog that documented the project. Bubbles was created by Michael Fox, Scott Franklin, Axel Kilian, Miao Miao, Juintow Lin, Darius Miller, and a number of volunteers.
The interactive installation is a spatially adaptable pneumatic environment at an urban scale. The installation consists of large air-bags or "bubbles" that inflate and deflate in reaction to visitors pushing or bumping the lower inflated volume of each pair. As visitors enter and move through the installation, they must navigate through the lightweight 8’ diameter spheres that fill the space. When the bubbles are bumped, sensors initiate a chaotic exchange of air between the spheres. When no visitors are present, the system returns to its stand-by state: the lower bubble in the pair refillls with air and awaits another interaction.
also see my post on Michael Fox’s talk at GSM2 ealier this year
October 9th, 2006
I was so excited to see the opening of Kinetica, the UK’s first Museum dedicated to time based art such as kinetic, interactive and robotic art, that I rushed down yesterday to get a look at the inaugural exhibition called ‘Lifeforms’. The selection of work looks at the extension of the human into the mechanical and the mechanical into the human by confirming the fallacy that humans are, or ever were, entirely divorced from our technological environment. If the intellectual content of the work doesn’t interest you, you’ll since find great enjoyment in looking with awe at the delicate, intricate mechanics, and beautiful materiality of the work. The first year of events will examine the pioneering forunners and historical origins of kinetic and electronic art alongside new work.
Artist in the show include Chico MacMurtie, Daniel Chadwick, Elias Crespin, Future Sound of London, Hans Hotter, Dante Leonelli, Chris Levine, Tim Lewis, Michael McKinnon, Richard Brown and Max Streicher. I got to catch a glimpse of the Amorphic Robot Works by Chico MacMurtie but the work itself only comes alive once a day so check the website for details if your going to visit. I’m going back to Kinetica on tuesday 10th October for his talk and to see his current robotic performance called ‘The Ancestral Path.’ I can’t wait!
More on the exhibition and future events coming soon.
October 7th, 2006
Next Posts
