There is a reluctance that exists around touching artwork. With In(ter)action, I have created a collection of kinetic objects to address this reluctance. Without a participant, the kinetic potential of each object remains dormant. It is left up to the viewer to activate them.
Each of the five objects in this collection have been developed to a ‘high-functioning redundancy’. Rather than create kinetic objects with an observable outcome, I have removed function until what is left is simply the action itself.
A pendant that contracts and expands, confined to the line threaded through it.
A wind-up box that, when wound, simply unwinds back to the point that it began.
A claw capable of picking up one specific object, only to deposit it back in the same place.
An arm piece containing repelling magnetic cylinders that, when worn, jiggle just barely with the motion of the wearer.
A scale with weighing pans that both sink, cumulatively, rather than balancing against each other.
With outcome eliminated, the focus turns to the interaction, the relationship formed when a viewer activates a piece. As this relationship becomes the focus, the objects combine into a collective experience, like individual examples joined to reinforce a thesis statement. These collective experiences provide outcomes opposite to what is expected. In the everyday it seems to be only the unexpected that pulls us into immediate awareness, and out of routine.
