Kinetic Sculptures (Videos and Pics)

Kinetic sculptures are an art form practiced by few. Whether stationary or mobile, these impressive pieces can be found in a variety of shapes and sizes. Relying heavily upon mathematical calculations and carefully engineered parts to ensure fluid locomotion, kinetic sculptures are an amazing and modern adaptation of art that everyone can appreciate.

Squirrel Power – Bill McHugh

Bill McHugh, who describes himself as “pushing 80,” is a kinetic sculptor from Pennsylvania who prefers to power his creations with the inhabitants of his backyard. Whether relying on the activity of squirrels or birds (and sometimes the sun), Bill has pieced together an extensive collection of kinetic sculptures, bringing his yard to life and no doubt raising the brows of of his neighbors.

Defining Innovation – BMW Commercial Featuring Theo Jansen

From YouTube:

Shot in the Netherlands utilizing the moving sculptures of world-renowned artist Theo Jansen, this commercial, entitled “Kinetic Sculptures,” forms part of a broader campaign which serves to highlight BMW’s market leadership in the fields of technology and innovation.

Reuben Margolin – Kinetic Sculptor

From YouTube:

Reuben Margolin, a Bay Area visionary and longtime maker, creates totally singular techno-kinetic wave sculptures. Using everything from wood to cardboard to found and salvaged objects, Reubens artwork is diverse, with sculptures ranging from tiny to looming, motorized to hand-cranked. Focusing on natural elements like a discrete water droplet or a powerful ocean eddy, his work is elegant and hypnotic. Also, learn how ocean waves can power our future. Learn more about Reuben at http://www.reubenmargolin.com/

Theo Jansen: The Art of Creating Creatures (TED)

From YouTube:

Artist Theo Jansen demonstrates the amazingly lifelike kinetic sculptures he builds from plastic tubes and lemonade bottles. His creatures are designed to move — and even survive — on their own.

Kinetic Sculptures – Vail, Colorado

Kinetic Sculpture at the BMW Museum in Munich, Germany

This kinetic sculpture, featured at the BMW Museum in Munich, Germany, is one of the most impressive examples we’ve come across. Hypnotizingly beautiful, wouldn’t you agree?

The Kinetic Sculpture is a metaphorical translation of the process of form-finding in art and design. 714 metal spheres, hanging from thin steel wires attached to individually-controlled stepper motors and covering the area of six square meters, animate a seven minute long mechatronic narrative. In the beginning, moving chaotically, then evolving to several competing forms that eventually resolve to the finished object, the Kinetic Sculpture creates an artistic visualisation of the process of form-finding in different variations.

Sculptor Nemo Gould

This video doesn’t even begin to display the awesomeness that is Nemo Gould. Be sure to check out his personal website for more of his spectacular work.

Nemo Gould was born to artist parents in 1975, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Named after the protagonist in Windsor McKay’s comic strip “Little Nemo in Slumberland,” Gould’s work has fittingly evolved to reflect the images and mythology of comic books and Science Fiction. Parallel to these influences was an irrepressible tendency towards collecting and dismantling anything with moving parts.  After earning his BFA at the Kansas City Art Institute in 1998, and his MFA at U.C. Berkeley in 2000, Gould was finally released into the realm of free will.  Free of the constraints of contemporary art education he quickly threw himself into the pursuit of his childhood dreams.  “My work appeals to the 7-year-old boy mind, because I still have one… I take silly very seriously.”

In the ensuing years he has produced a prolific body of work that attempts to reconcile the innocent wonder of youth with the dull complexity of the adult experience.  “Most adults are dangerously lacking in wonder.  As we age and learn more of the answers to life’s mysteries, I think we lose part of what keeps us alive.  When I am working, I am always trying to make things that can produce a child like response from a jaded adult—it’s a matter of life and death!”

Gould’s work has been featured frequently in national media and is shown in Galleries and Museums throughout the U.S. and abroad.