Infinity

 

Limited Edition of 95  •  Size: 35" w x 35 " h x 7 "d  •  Approx. Run Time: 8 hours

Edition Sold Out  •  Infinity © 2016 • Infinity Directions

About Infinity

Infinity Kinetic Sculpture by David C. Roy of Wood That Works. Spring driven wooden kinetic art

My favorite design sequence unfolds in a recurring pattern. First I draw and animate a new idea. I then build a prototype and find It doesn’t work as expected. That’s when the fun and real work begins. Through a process of observation, experimentation and frustration something new emerges that is much more satisfying than the original idea. 

Infinity’s beginning was simple. I had several discarded wheel designs for Dimension that I thought had potential with another mechanism. I had also been thinking about a new variation of the mechanism I first developed for Monarch. Why not put the two together? It worked but did nothing for me. But… what if? And I started a long sequence of new wheel designs until I discovered the current one with it’s “waterfall” pattern.

The mechanism was the next challenge. It worked and generated the patterns I wanted but not often enough or slowly enough. I kept fiddling but the answer came only when I noticed one of the prototypes misbehaving. Occasionally the mechanism would fail to catch a cog tooth soon enough and give double the push. I first figured out what was wrong and then found a way to make it happen at regular intervals. At last I had a pattern that was both dynamic and peaceful. 

The new interval pacing produces soft, melodic wooden clicks with unpredictable timing. We chose the name Infinity because the patterning wheels regularly create the classic mathematical infinity sign just before the waterfall pattern starts. 

Winding Infinity:

Here is a short video of David demonstrating how to wind Infinity.

 

More About the Infinity Videos:

Infinity has many variation of motion that happen over a period of time longer than an acceptable introduction video. David has also done an additional video showing more of the variations in patterning that occur with Infinity. Scroll to the bottom of the page for the second, longer video.

Infinity Kinetic Sculpture in Room Setting. Spring-driven wooden Wood That Works kinetic Art by David C. Roy
Detail of Infinity kinetic sculpture by David C. Roy. Spring-driven wooden kinetic art that moves
Center Detail of Infinity kinetic sculpture by artist David C. Roy. Spring-driven kinetic art 2016
 

Below is a second version of the Infinity video. It is much longer and displays more of the variation in motion. It also has a musical score. To hear the gentle wooden clicks Infinity make watch the shorter version at the beginning of this page.