- 09 Dec, 2025 *
My first introduction to Kinetic Art came way back in the early 1990’s. I was into the band Soundgarden at the time (as were many of my peers) as their album Badmotorfinger had just come out.
I read somewhere that the band had taken their name from a statue called A Sound Garden. This sculpture has pipe organs attached to long poles. When the wind rises and changes, it makes different tones. Check it out.
Image of a sculpture in Washington State, USA
I always thought that the idea of a piece of art responding to natural phenomena was really interesting.
Blue Man Group
Many years later I saw a …
- 09 Dec, 2025 *
My first introduction to Kinetic Art came way back in the early 1990’s. I was into the band Soundgarden at the time (as were many of my peers) as their album Badmotorfinger had just come out.
I read somewhere that the band had taken their name from a statue called A Sound Garden. This sculpture has pipe organs attached to long poles. When the wind rises and changes, it makes different tones. Check it out.
Image of a sculpture in Washington State, USA
I always thought that the idea of a piece of art responding to natural phenomena was really interesting.
Blue Man Group
Many years later I saw a Blue Man Group show in Las Vegas, Nevada. While the house lights were up before the show, I noticed a weird sculpture on the side of the stage. I couldn’t quite make it out. It was a group of about 8 figures, in a circle. Each figure was in a slightly different pose.
Once the show started the sculpture made sense. The figures were on a rotating base, like a lazy Susan. As it spun around, and the lights flickered, the persistence of vision made it look like one figure, dancing.
It was an animated sculpture.
Cave animations, not Cave paintings.
I’ve got an interest in cave paintings. Our early ancestors were communicating visually. That fascinates me. These were probably drawings that documented rituals, rights of passage, etc.
Ancient lions are depicted on the walls of the Chauvet Cave, showcasing prehistoric artistry.
I was curious about the sort of multiple images of the animals and figures you’d see in some of these cave paintings (like the one above). A couple years ago I read an article (lost the source) about these strange lines. It wasn’t due to poor drawing skills.
Context matters. In the times these paintings were made, they’d be viewed by taking a torch into the dark cave. The natural flicker of the torchlight would make the drawings move.
Our ancestors were artists and animators.
As someone who’s worked in the field of animation, this totally blew my mind.
These three works of art have helped bring me to where I am now. I’m super curious about this kind of art. What can I come up with that is a sculpture that moves? That interacts with natural phenomena, and is interactive?
This is where I am heading (directionally) as an artist.