Peepshow #5 in action

This was the first piece that moved my kinetic sculptures into a slightly different direction than I had initially envisioned. I started to enjoy so much freedom when working on this kind of work. I also felt that I was going back to the kind of things I had been interested in many years back when I was younger and it just felt "right" to work on this sculpture. The movement of the arm is a little clumsy, but I am happy about the overall design of this room.

Peepshow #6 in action

Here is the video of Peepshow #6 in action. I dedicated this sculpture to 2 of my pets who passed away that year. I was thinking about some invisible force that sometimes affects our lives in an unexpected way, and when you look back later, you can almost feel its presence in the course of events that took place.

"Fingers"

When I was searching for automata online, I came across this piece called "Fingers" designed by a Britain based artist Nik Ramage. The mechanism and movement are similar to my Peepshow #7, but it is a more stripped down version. I think this is a simple yet very whimsical piece. Very nice. Here is the piece in action. You can purchase this piece (they made 10 copies) through Cabaret Mechanical Theatre website.

Peepshow #7 in action

Here is a short clip of my kinetic sculpture "Peepshow #7" in action. This piece is about frustration related to the experience of "seeing". But while working on this piece, by adding fingers, eye, scissors to the whole design of the set, it ended up suggesting a sexual undertone, which I had not originally intended...

Kinetic sculpture "Peepshow" series

Here are some samples of my kinetic sculptures called Peepshows. These were originally developed from my photography pieces as far as their concept was concerned. I was thinking about the experiences of taking pictures with a camera, turning your photographic subjects into objects, and owning them as mementos. I was intrigued by our basic desires behind all those actions. The realization that it all comes from the fact that we are all desperately trying to preserve something that's constantly disappearing in front of our eyes made me view photography as a medium born out of our impossible dreams. I decided to reposition this whole idea and drama into a sculptural context, involving the elements that make the medium of photography possible: time (movement), light, monocular vision through a lens, machinery, etc..
The box (approx. 23" cube) reminds us of an over-sized pinhole camera. When you peek into the spy lens on the front panel, you will see a motorized sculpture (body part) moving endlessly repeating the same motions over and over. The perspective is distorted due to the use of the lens, making the interior space much deeper than actually is. There is a sense of witnessing some kind of naughty secret about the act of looking into a small opening with your back hunched over, and that's the reason why I decided to call them Peepshows. The mechanism used for these pieces are pretty low-tech: basically gears, cams and electric motors. These pieces show my fascination with the mid-19th to early 20th century automata. I love those mechanical toys from that era which seem to exist in the gray zone in between art, toy, science and magic.
I am currently working on capturing these pieces in action on video.