David Durlach, an artist and computer scientist from Somerville, Massachusetts, creates computer-driven, kinetic sculptures made from such novel materials as magnetic fluids and bubbles in a tank.
Dancing Trees - a grove of 81 furry stalks that sway and pulsate to music - is installed in a Chicago shopping center as part of a multiyear tour of airports and malls. The inch-tall trees are composed of iron filings, and their movement can be choreographed to music or manipulated using a touchpad. A coin-operated version of the piece sits in an ice-cream parlor near MIT.
"I'm not opposed to doing practical things with technology," the artist explains. "But every time we do a practical thing rather than an emotional thing, it ought to be a conscious decision." -
Steve Nadis
ELECTRIC WORD
Representative Barr Thwarts Louis the Lurker
A Fish, a Barrel, and a Smoking Gun
Ferrocritters
