Upcycle Thoughts: Kinetic Walking Sculpture

Theo Jansen has selflessly given his “11 holy numbers” away for the public to use however they see fit (See my previous post “Aesthetic Explorations: Theo Jansen and His Strandbeest” for more information on his creations). Shown below, the 11 numbers for a linkage system for a leg to be powered by a crank. I would like to use his design to create my own walking “Strandbeest” out of Popsicle sticks (if they are strong enough) or thin wood. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Strandbeest_Leg_Proportions.svg Below is someone else’s attempt…

Aesthetic Explorations: Theo Jansen and His Strandbeest

Theo Jansen, a dropout physicist become artist, has created his very own aesthetic. In 1980, Jansen began with 1500 combinations of 11 linkage sizes. Using a new technology at the time, a computer was utilized to dwindle the different configurations down to just one golden combination, the “eleven holy numbers”. These numbers allowed for the most efficient, elegant, and stable motion of what would thereafter become the locomotion of the Strandbeest. Watching his PVC creatures move both invokes curiosity and mesmerizes. They appear to move…

Androgynous

http://setuptheupset.com/blogs/uncvrd/25735364-10-androgynous-moments-that-changed-fashion-forever Androgyny was identified first by plato as a combination of the two sexes. His myth tell the story of three sexes; male, female, and male-female respectively from the sun, earth, and the moon. The synthesis of the two sexes gives the male and female characteristics of style, music, expression, sexual experience, and appearance in contemporary times. Popularized in the 80’s glam-pop music scene there was an explosion of what many deemed sexually ambiguous styles and expression. For this aesthetic is characterized no better than…

Rolling through the bay

Source: Rolling through the bay A wonderful example of upcycled outsider art. Scott Weaver created an elaborate sculpture of San Francisco, made entirely of toothpicks, around 100,000 of them. A ping pong ball rides on tracks through the sculpture, visiting sites of importance to the sculptor. I saw this at the American Visionary Museum in Baltimore.