From the Museum of Arts and Design in NYC: Dead or Alive , presented by the Museum of Arts and Design from April 27 through October 24, 2010, will showcase the work of over 30 international artists who transform organic materials and objects that were once produced by or part of living organisms-insects, feathers, bones, […]
An artist who builds machines, I’m constantly dealing with the issue of how I can power my devices. Usually, I make it the old school way, simply using sockets in the wall of the gallery. But this project in Belgium happened in a public park, where no electricity was available. As there was a huge fountain, Jari and me decided to tap its hydropower and to generate electricity with it, as we found this far more elegant than using batteries. Furthermore, it was fitting conceptually to the devices that we were powering with the large fountain: It was some tiny private fountains that we rented out to visitors of the park.I think the concept of recycling energy which is available in the city anyway has a lot of potential.
One of my favorite exhibitors at World Maker Faire was Brad Litwin, who does exquisitely-crafted, whimsical kinetic sculptures. I gave him one of my Editor’s Choice Blue Ribbons. Now, Brad is selling these wonderful crank-powered “MechaniCards.” What a nifty gift. They sell for $45 assembled, $35 for a kit. [Via Boing Boing] MechaniCards More: Brad […]
Over the past few weeks and months, the community of makers centered around Sprout in Somerville MA has been quietly hatching a plan to build a Theo Jansen inspired walker to walk in the Honk Festival parade. Dubbed the StreetBeest, after the Jansen’s StrandBeest project, it is constructed of strapping, PVC and a few custom fabricated drive train parts. For more information on the build and design, check out this interview with Shaunalyn Duffy of The Sprouts.
Riccardo Bovo designed this stool comprised of an algorithmically generated series of triangles, laser-cut and zip tied together. [via Pratt on Tumblr]
The collection, housed at the University of Padua’s Center for the Study of the Alpine Environment, was manufactured in the 19th century or before. Each specimen consists of a 7.5x5x1.5-inch book-shaped box, executed in the wood of the subject tree, which opens to display samples of that tree’s seedling, leaves, flowers, seeds, fine roots, sawdust, charcoal, and ash. The spines are bound with samples of the tree’s bark, and of course everything is labeled. [Thanks, loondawg!]
It’s called Charybdis, as in “between Scylla and.” Briton William Pye used a massive acrylic cylinder to give the appearance of a containerless volume of water. It’s installed at Seaham Hall, in Sunderland, England.
