Whilst i’ve been involved in what you might call digital art for a few years, some of it leaves me cold. Too much about what’s within a screen and process driven for my taste.
So when a friend of mine invited me to the Kinetica Art fair (Thanks for ticket Bruno) my expectations were fairly low – thinking I’d find the electronic & new media arts that I’m familiar with. However, the event was pretty special and introduced me to a new kind of mechanical art.
A sort of creative engineering that I thought was a forgotten art form. Lost in the industrial age. It’s nice to see that we still have eccentric artists using these multiple disciplines. Especially the dapper ones:
The work that connected with me the most were the kinetic mechanical pieces that had an almost organic human quality.
There were also connected interactive devices that inspired. In this case the above feather controlling something mechanical and digital. The workings are very simple, you run your hand across the feather to switch between light colours. Again conjuring up thoughts for an event space or interiors project.
With my Experience Design hat on, it would only take a few of these pieces placed in the right setting to create fantastical story telling worlds. Sound, Music, Lights, Set Design, Narrative.
There were some other pieces of note that I hadn’t pictured. I’d advice experiencing these things first hand as video/ pictures (and my rubbish writing) doesn’t do it justice. Find out more regarding tickets and upcoming shows here:
http://www.kinetica-museum.org/
Darren