Pixelsumo is the blog of
Chris O'Shea, an artist and designer based in London.
Random project
Average Face
for ico design
Cabaret Mechanical Theatre
Posted April 6th 2007 under Kinetic, Kinetica Museum, Toys
[update] Here is a video by Gaz Cobain showing some of the works. Show open until 5th May 2007.
I’ve been a regular visitor to the Kinetica Museum in London since it’s opening. One of the things I always really liked were the automata donation boxes. For this reason I attended the Cabaret Mechnical Theatre workshop that gave an insight into the processes using cardboard prototyping (some photos).
Last night was the opening of Cabaret Mechanical Theatre’s first-ever major retrospective show, which includes over 80 automata and a number of previously unseen works from CMT’s illustrious The Ride of Life. Here are my photos.
I can safely say that this one of the most beautiful, playful and magical exhibitions I’ve been to for a long time. My photos don’t do it justice, you need to go and see them moving in real life. It has a real feeling of British crazy backyard inventor to it, mixed with detailed tiny models to large scale automata. It was surprised by many of the works, narratives that formed over time rather than simply looping playback. I can’t recommend this exhibition enough.
Artists include Ron Fuller, Arthur Ganson, Tim Hunkin, Will Jackson, Pierre Mayer, Keith Newstead, Paul Spooner and Carlos Zapata. Read about CMT and the history of how it was started.
From the site:
The Ride of Life, developed as a satire of British culture, was a large-scale project commissioned in the late 1980’s by the Meadowhall Shopping Centre in Sheffield. Designed and created by the top British automatists of the time, it was to become a huge automated theme park and ride covering a colossal 25,000 sq ft area of the shopping centre and was set to become a landmark in the history of automata. However what started as a wonderful dream in the booming 80’s had a very rude awakening with the recession of the 90’s and after 3 years of work, the project was suddenly axed. Stored in sheds and warehouses for the past twenty years, many of the sets were tragically destroyed through vandalism and theft. CMT have initiated the restoration of the surviving scenes with some of the artists originally involved, enabling segments of The Ride of Life and the only complete surviving scene to be shown publicly for the first time.
If you are interested in automata, why not attend a workshop, attend artist talks, buy instruction books or kits. I’d love to see a lot more of this kind of work coming back.
Comments
(April 7th 2007)
Their stuff is great, I’m glad you’ve posted this - it’s the history of interactivity too. I’ve loved it ever since I saw them in Covent Garden as a child. The ingenuity is amazing, but the best thing is how witty the scenes are.
(April 10th 2007)
Cabaret Mechanical Theatre are the modern progenitors of contemporary automata and deserve credit for keeping this art form alive.
I can tell you with confidence that this kind of work IS coming back. In fact, I’ve dedicated an entire blog to it!
The Automata / Automaton Blog can be found at http://www.dugnorth.com/blog
Regards,
Dug North
(April 15th 2007)
I hope one day CMT will do a tour of exhibition in North America, including Canada of course. Automata-making has become my latest woodworking interest. I also hope other automata-makers will reveal the mechanisms of their works (not just the principles but the actual working details) so more people can take part in this mechanically oriented form of woodworking. In this respect, Dug North and many others have been generous with their advice and readiness to help others, especially beginners like me. Ron Fuller is one of those few who give out details of his works, including the lion tamer and sheep shearer. It’s actions like his that encourage others to learn and get involved. Frankly, this art will die if only a few select are in the making of automata. As Dug says, happy cranking!
Charles Mak, Alberta, Canada
(May 25th 2007)
CMT has always been an inspiration to automatists worldwide. My wife & I have been creating contemporary automata for the last eight years. There is a growing awareness of this humerous & whimscial form of artistic engineering in both Canada & the U.S. We starting introducing automata into Canadain schools about 4 years ago; every year more and more teachers and schools are starting to view automata as a real and practical means of creating “relevance” in the classroom as it pertains to the teaching of the arts & sciences while at the same time encouraging and promoting the development of hand skills which as we all know are in short supply today in both Canada & the U.S.
Jim McCord Automatist
Toronto, Canada