MECHANICAL WINGS PLAY RAS 5 Daycare Center, Britz, 1997, 1997
Material: Metal / Wood / Polyurethane
This work arose from the consideration of how an artistic object can not only be seen, but also understood and used. Especially in spaces where children gather daily, it seemed important to me to create a work that is both visual and interactive – a mechanical game that reveals its function yet retains a sense of mystery.
The large pair of wings on the stairwell wall translates the vertical axis of the room into a poetic image of cause and effect. Two levels – the ground floor and the upper floor – are connected by a mechanical principle: a hand crank (or a bicycle-like chair) below, and the large movement of the wings above. In this way, transmission – the transfer of energy – is made visible.
The artwork defies the invisibility of today's technology, which usually disappears behind boxes and surfaces. Instead, it reveals mechanics in all their beauty: gears, springs, and transmissions. Children can interact with it, triggering the movement and directly experiencing the connection between force and effect.
This creates a link between play and understanding: a poetic symbol in the stairwell that fills the space with its lightness and is simultaneously an emblem of learning—a flight of the imagination.
View of BUTTERFLY, RAS 5, Britz, 1997
View in the stairwell, RAS 5, Britz, 1997. On the ground floor, children turn a crank, while on the first floor, the wings move.
WORK IN PROGRESS, wood, metal, fabric, manual kinetic, 1997
WORK IN PROGRESS, wood, metal, fabric, manual kinetic, 1994
WORK IN PROGRESS, wood, metal, fabric, manual kinetic, 1994
Sketches and models for the BUTTERFLY project, 1996
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