The Mechanical Blog

In celebration of Paul Spooner’s 60th Birthday this month we are preparing for a new virtual exhibition of his work which will be online from 20th November 2008.  We will also be publishing a celebratory book to coincide with the exhibition.
Paul’s recently completed the piece above, which was commissioned by the Falmouth Art Gallery
for their forthcoming exhibition celebrating the work of artist Henry Scott Tuke.
The title reads ‘Please Mr Tuke, when can we put our togs back on’ and the thermometer reads from ‘Nippy’ to ‘Perishing’.

Our first ever exhibition in Australia will open on Saturday 15th March at the Western Australia Museum in Perth.

Mechanics Alive!! is being shown as part of the UNIMA 2008 World Puppetry Festival to be held in Perth 2nd to 12th April - so plenty of reasons (apart from fantastic weather) to make a trip to Perth if you can.

The word on the ground (from our intrepid installation team) is that the venue is fantastic, local interest is growing daily (we think they will particularly enjoy Paul Spooner’s Hopping Jackal - jumping over The Ashes - above) and that there is a pioneering colour scheme for the exhibition!
Mechanics Alive!! continues in Perth until May 11th 2008.

Our Mechanics Alive!! exhibition is making a brief appearance (for two school weeks) at Oakham School Smallbone Library Foyer, in Rutland, Leceistershire, before heading off on tour to Australia for a year.

Thirty five classic pieces will be displayed including some of our old favourites like Keith Newstead’s Pegasus - The Birth of Fast Food. The exhibition highlights the different mechanisms used in the pieces (linkages in this case).
Opens 14th January until 25th January (closed 19th and 20th Jan). Free.

Opening on Saturday 23rd February at the spectacular phaeno Science Centre in Wolfsburg, Germany, this exhibition promises to be one of the best kinetic sculpture exhibitions in recent years.

Spread over 10,000 square feet in Zaha Hadid’s acclaimed new building, more than 70 exhibits will come to life and share their stories. The works include 40 from Cabaret Mechanical Theatre as well as 18 from Arthur Ganson (this will be his biggest ever exhibition outside of his native USA), Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre will provide a large scale theatrical element with Eduard Bersudsky’s awe-inspiring machines and American artist Norman Tuck, maker of artistic science machines will complete the show.

Wolfsburg is an hour from Berlin by the ICE train, there is a very frequent service, (and phaeno is a few minutes from the station). You can even book your train ticket online here.

We enjoyed the visit to Maker Faire last weekend, and were thrilled to pick up an Editor’s Choice award for our Designing Automata Kit. Richard Garriott, Austin resident, CMT patron (…games designer and soon to be astronaut!) pictured here with Sarah Alexander came along too, and shared some of his great pieces with the crowds.

We were also joined by RoboThespian, who was the star of the show with his new range of Hollywood Movie impressions.

A fantastic new children’s book by Brian Selznick is launched in the UK this week. Set in Paris, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, is an enthralling 526-page book in which the story of a 12 year old boy is told in both words and pictures. His adventures centre around the discovery of an old automaton, this is a real page turner!
To celebrate the UK launch, an exhibition of Brian’s original drawings opens at Waterstones Piccadilly, London tomorrow, alongside some automata from Cabaret Mechanical Theatre.

Exhibition continues until 14th October.

The Falmouth Art Gallery are celebrating the 80th Birthday (a few years early!) of ‘the father of the Falmouth automata makers’ Peter Markey.
The exhibition ‘Markey and Friends’, will also feature the paintings of Peter’s son and artist Danny,  as well as plenty of automata from Peter.
Opens 22nd September 2007.

Peter’s ‘Kissing Couple’ paper cutout (seen here) is available to buy and make from our online shop.

Join us at the fantastic Maker Faire this October in Austin, Texas where you can get the chance to play with our great Designing Automata Kit.
If you are in the USA you can now order the Designing Automata Kit and Cabaret Mechanical Movement directly from the Make: Store. Save dollars on postage too.

Also, I have two one-day tickets to give away.
E-mail Sarah Alexander to get your hands on them!

Now on the last leg of it’s Far East tour, our Mechanics Alive!! exhibition was officially opened by Her Royal Highness Princess Siriwanwaree Nareeratana of Thailand on July 26th at the Thailand Creative and Design Center in Bangkok.

The Princess was enthralled by the exhibits, and also tried out the designing automata kit in the workshop area. The exhibition is proving to be a real crowd pleaser, as last weeks article in ‘The Nation’ reveals. The exhibition closes on 30th September 2007.

A new work by the Colombian automata maker Carlos Zapata is currently being exhibited at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition in London.

In the piece a man protecting a small child is being beaten by soldiers. Carlos has always been concerned about the ill treatment of innocent people, and the fact that very often nothing is done to stop it - even though it is known to be taking place.
Whilst turning the handle of this piece the audience realises that the he or she is actually taking part in the torture.

The exhibition continues until 19th August 2007.