Arthur Ganson's motorized walking wishbone

Here is a great video of one of my favorite kinetic sculptures by Arthur Ganson. Who knew a wishbone could be so evocative?

See more kinetic sculptures by the amazing Arthur Ganson on his web site.

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Arthur Ganson @TED: Sculpture that's truly moving

Here is another amazing TED lecture -- this one from one of the greats of kinetic sculpture, Arthur Ganson. The video is about 15 minutes long, and worth every second.

More about Arthur Ganson from the TED web site:

A modern-day creator of "twittering machines," Arthur Ganson uses simple, plain materials to build witty mechanical art. But the wit is not simply about Rube Goldberg-ian chain-reaction gags (though you'll find a few of those). His work examines the quiet drama of physical motion, whether driven by a motor or by the actions of the viewer. Notions of balance, of rising and falling, of action and reaction and consequence, play themselves out in wire and steel and plastic.

Ganson has been an artist-in-residence at MIT (where the Lemelson-MIT Award Program named him an Inventor of the Week, and where his show "Gestural Engineering" is ongoing) and has shown his work at art and science museums around the world -- including a current, held-over show at the phaeno in Wolfsburg, Germany.

[ Thanks Richard and Steve! ]

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Interview - Arthur Ganson's Influence on 2nd Artist

Jeff Lieberman is a musician, photographer, and robotics expert. He is also the host of "Time Warp" -- a show on the Discovery Channel. He speaks about his encounter as a teenager with the work of Arthur Ganson during this Studio 360 interveiw. This a very nice, candid take on a talented artist by another artist.

Here is the interview for you to hear:

[ Thanks Aaron! ]

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Cat-A-Pults: Chain-reaction Toy by Arthur Ganson

Designed by celebrated mechancial artist, Arthur Ganson, the Cat-A-Pult is a new interactive, chain-reaction toy.

Each Cat-A-Pult can be adjusted to throw the included foam cats from one to six feet. With each set you get 5 catapults, 10 Cats, and instruction booklet with games and activities.

You design the layout of the Cat-A-Pults, set them up and adjust them to fly from room to room or contained on a table. This toy is not only a great idea but has great potential to be combined with other chain reaction toys like dominoes and marble-run tracks.

You can get the Cat-a-Pult from HandsOnToys.

Note: This new chain-reaction mechanical toy is not to be confused with the similarly named Cat-A-Pult, miniature cat flinging gun made by the great novelty company called Accoutrements.

What is it about flying cats that is so compelling? We may never know.

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PhantasieMechanik Exhibition at phaeno

Head over to The Mechanical Blog to read their recent posting about an upcoming exhibition in Wolfsburg, Germany.

The show will include 40 pieces from Cabaret Mechanical Theatre and 18 from American artist Arthur Ganson. There will also be works by Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre, Eduard Bersudsky, and Norman Tuck.

Read all of the details about The PhantasieMechanik Exhibit.

Great Review of CMT Exhibit with Photo Sets

Over at the Pixelsumo blog, the author has a great review of a visit to the newly opened Cabaret Mechanical Theatre exhibit at Kinetica Museum that I told you about here.

The post features links to a huge set of flickr photos of the show itself.

Check out this great review of the CMT show at Pixelsumo.

Cabaret Mechanical Theatre at Kinetica Museum

If you can be or will be in the UK between April 6, 2007 and May 5, 2007 you must visit Kinetica Museum located at Old Spitalfields Market, London.

Kinetica will be hosting a major retrospective show on Cabaret Mechanical Theatre which includes more than 80 automata and a number of previously unseen works.

The show will feature artists including: Ron Fuller, Arthur Ganson, Tim Hunkin, Will Jackson, Pierre Mayer, Keith Newstead, Paul Spooner, and Carlos Zapata. (Many of my favorite artists are in that list!)

The exhibition will also include a series of talks and hands-on workshops by the founders of CMT and prominent British automata artists. Speakers will include: Tim Hunkin, Sue Jackson, Sarah Alexander, Will Jackson and Paul Spooner.

Learn more at CMT's Mechanical Blog or visit Kinetica Museum's site

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Cabaret Mechanical Theatre (CMT) dates back to 1979, when a handful of automaton artists began to work together as an artists collective.

The group, founded in 1983 in Falmouth by Sue Jackson, moved to London’s Covent Garden shortly thereafter, where their collection of automata immediately received both critical and popular acclaim.

They produced a book (shown at left) that teaches about basic mechanics and the construction of automata.