The project found its origin in my fascination for moving things and movement of organisms.
I chose to build my research around the movement of organisms since It is my opinion that movement within organic bodies is the most fundamental and pure form of movement, since all man-made movement and concepts of these movements are based off of these natural movements.
In the spirit of what I call ‘Design by Making’ this research has been translated into a long line of tests and models, providing what resembles a man-made evolutionary chain. I divided the animal up into several body parts and started to recreate these body parts in what is known as a ‘linkage system’. Test after test until it was ‘right’.
I chose a rather intuitive trial-and-error approach, to discover and design, by trying and making, which is a core principle of the philosophy of ‘Design by Making’.
This research ultimately resulted in 3 kinetic objects: ‘Arcturus’, ‘Betelgeuse’ and ‘Rigel’, which can be operated by the viewer like a toy.
These three creatures bear my vision of how an artificial organism should look if it were to fly, swim or walk. In theory these artificial life forms would all be able to function within their respective domain.
The objects display movement at a graspable level and force the viewer, or operator, to discover their range of motion by playing with them. Basically translating my discovery, research and journey through movement, in three single pieces.
This project is a test of maker-skill, material knowledge, as well as being a life-lasting research.
More pictures at: https://www.pinterest.com/ritchievan/artificial-selection/
