Slightly Windy • Gentle Kinetic Motion

Did you have a collection of music boxes stashed in your junk drawer as a kid?  I did.  I was fascinated by the motion. This kinetic sculpture is the fusion of that classic mechanism with a new twist. It is created by combining a fine music box mechanism with golden barley shafts. 

It was designed by José Ferrufino at Écal University of Art and Design Lausanne. The mechanism is a 144 blade music box crafted by the Reuge of Switzerland. 

The mechanism drives a series of cams that start the grasses gently swaying in the breeze.

The presentation is that of a fine piece of jewelry transformed into sculpture with additional sensory inputs of both sound and motion. I'd love to see it in person.  

I haven't been able to locate a video showing the motion alone or in combination with the music box.  The above photo attempts to show motion, but David learned that it isn't enough.  In the early years of Wood That Works we did many experiments with still photography to try and demonstrate the motion of David's work (discussed in an earlier blog post here).  This photo of Serendipity from the late 1970s is one of the best.  It does make the sculpture appear to be moving at a frenetic pace and it didn't.

The development of home videography, flash animation, and YouTube has changed all of that!

If any one does know of a video of José Ferrufino's
sculpture, note it in the comments and I'll provide a link.

via/Thersic.com