Music of the Gears (vimeo) continues my exploration of phasing and accidental music in a form reflecting the historical artefacts of the venue. A clockwork orrery slowly turns and chimes a Tibetan bell on each planet’s orbit, producing a mediative and methodical – though apparently random – musical performance. Running from 27th September to 2nd October.
The Plaiting Machine was the first piece to be exhibited on the museum’s Fourth Plinth in their Eccentricity exhibition. The machine slowly weaves together three yarns of wool, transferring the power of gravity though a flying pendulum clock escapement. The Fourth Plinth is running until October, featuring items from many exhibitors and artists including Mike Blow and Antony Gormley. Running from 2nd August to 7th August.
This presentation explored other means of making the complex more tangible, breaking down a clock into components so one can develop an intimacy with the machine and see it from the inside. Four building blocks – the pulley, rewinder, escapement and dial – were introduced and gradually assembled into a working machine.
A single motor drives eight chain loops, each of which is responsible for periodically lifting and dropping a mallet that sounds one note of a glockenspiel. Each successive chain is one link shorter than the last. As they loop around they fall ever further out of sync resulting in a unique changing melody.
Missing Link is a series of chains driven from a single motor, each with one link less than the last. As they turn they play a unique phased melody which repeats once every 1,300 years. This piece won an award from ResonanceFM as part of their Open exhibit which ran alongside Gone with the Wind by Max Eastley, Takehisa Kosugi and Walter Marchetti. Running from 9th June to 17th July.
These clock components were developed for the ‘Exploring Complexity Through Play’ presentation at the Ovada Stammtisch which continued my experimentation with the modular presentation format.
This machine was culmination of the exploration and development of a number of mechanisms wising LEGO. The plaiting method was developed from a long-standing fascination as to how machines perform this action.