Tag Archives: random photography

sup..

Lazy Sunday so we will be sharing you a piece of gold we found on the internet (+)

Our fascination with sophisticated technology lies at the core of many of our present-day problems. Yet, it need not be. By definition, technical virtuosity doesn’t need to result in yet another electronic gadget or an even faster accelerating sports car. It can also lead to stunning yet completely harmless artefacts called “automata”.

These are mostly hand-cranked machines that can be extremely complex, often with the only purpose of astonishing the spectator. Automata have been built for more than 2,000 years, but contemporary artists have elevated the craft to a higher level. Aside from their emotional value, automata offer a glimpse of a future, post-oil technology.

There is a lot to say about the history of automata, but it is the modern work that deserves attention. Contrary to the examples that can be found in museums and old documents, present-day automata do not try to hide their internal mechanisms. The purpose of an automaton is no longer to make a mechanical copy of reality. Today, builders of automata want to evoke emotions, they want to make us dream.

The often fragile combination of gears, wheels and wires, as well as the sounds they make, are now an important part of the whole. Yet, automata are no Rude Goldberg machines, in which the mechanisms have been made needlessly complex. The mechanism of an automaton can be extremely elaborate, but never needlessly so. The makers of automata are not mocking technology, they are celebrating it.

+Plus a cool vid

arthur_ganson_makes_moving_sculpture.html

*bonus*

our secretary in action…