Buugeng • A Curved Kinetic Instrument

Learn something new everyday.

Today I learned about Buugeng. Buugeng are the curved pieces used in the following YouTube video. Watch how the two folding C-shaped blades are manipulated to create evolving patterns.

How many sculptures created by David can be seen in variations of the patterns created in this dance? I see many.... Impulse,  Serpentine, Crustacean, Jubilee, Sequences, Duet, Castaway, Quest

The word is a registered trademark of Dai Zaobab and it can be translated into the combination of three words - martial arts, infinity, and illusion. It is a cross between dance, motion, juggling, and kinetic sculpture. The first generation Buugeng was created in 2003 and gained widespread exposure in 2007. It evolved from the creator's memories of seeing the work of Michael Moschen.

We learned about it thanks to an email from follower Rick Bissel from The Mobile Factory.  

Marble Machines by Paul Grundbacher

Do you remember the first rolling ball kinetic sculpture you experienced? I know the first time I viewed one. We (David and I) were captivated and stayed watching every ball for a very long time. I am sure it was a George Rhoades creation but I am not sure if it was the one in the United terminal at Logan Airport in Boston or the one at the Boston Science Museum. We visited both many times over the years. The art of rolling ball sculptures has come a very long way yet many of the initial actions from those early designs keep reappearing. This week the blog world is alive witih the recently shared work of Swiss sculptor Paul Grunbacher.

Videos of seven wonderful, entertaining and beautifully crafted wooden marble machines have been posted for all of us to enjoy. 

Regenschiff (Rain Ship) - 2009

These videos where assembled for a March 17th article in Woodgears which is a woodworking site for engineers. I know there are many engineers that follow my work and you might want to journey over to that site for some interesting exploring.

Archimedis - 2012

 Mr. Grundbacher shares that he doesn't work from plans or even advanced planning. He builds by tinkering. He "plans" directly in wood most of which is ash, maple and linden firewood from a local factory.

Etagen ( Floors) -2010 - Inspired by the videos shared by Denha

Quatro- 2010 - Quatro was inspired by the work of Brad Litwin.

Fischtreppe ( Fish Ladder) - 2010

Lift- 2009 Based on a design by M. Wandel

Chaos - 2009 - This is Paul's first design and he used many ideas he'd gathered from around the web including an article at Woodgears that includes 12 construction videos for tutorials.

Do you have a favorite?

The New England Seasons Zipping By

Time lapse photography makes fascinating video when put into motion. This series could have been created looking out David's studio window. 

I Love Watching Meshing Gears!

Check out this entertaining mechanical bank with exposed workings. This ingenious device by artist Christopher Blasius came to my attention recently from Dug North's Automata Blog. 

It is operated by a hand crank and does a fascinating directional change from circular motion to linear action. The artist is selling plans here and has uploaded an extensive YouTube video showing both the operation and assembly instructions. Worth a view. I'll be adding a link to David's links page for those people always looking for mechanically oriented plans.

Send us photos if you try and make one!

via Dug North

Kinetic Animated GIFs by Paolo Ceric

We were both taken by the visual impact of the optical animated gifs design by Paolo Ceric and shared on Colossal this week.

Paolo is from Croatia and is developing his skills at creating visual art through coding. His website with more of his work is Patakk. Worth exploring.