August 27, 2006

Kinetic Sculptures, Paper Tigers

• Dutch artist/engineer Theo Jansen makes unbelievable kinetic sculptures; it’s as if da Vinci had access to PVC. This video (a BMW ad, as it happens) shows off some of his walking machines in motion on the beach. Wired covers the genesis and evolution of Jansen’s work, and you can see his two-ton Animaris Rhinoceros Transport on the move in this video. Many more photos are on his site. [Via] [For more on kinetic scuplture, see previous entry.]

• Thomas Demand is a photographer who replicates regular scenes with cardboard and paper. [Via] His efforts to make the tiny seem large strike me as an exact counterpoint to people making the large seem small via tilt-shift lens or Photoshop.
• Along marginally similar lines, someone (perhaps preparing for a future career as prison escapee) has fashioned a set of amazingly intricate paper guns. [Via]
• And I know I mentioned them not long ago, but Richard Sweeny’s paper sculptures really are worth a look. [Update: so are Peter Callesen's.]