News FeedCMT presents Automata! at the Allen Gallery
October 11, 2011 by admin · Leave a Comment
This new exhibition of 20 exhibits from our collection is travelling to Hampshire for the run-up to Christmas this year.
Many of the exhibits are by Paul Spooner, including several of his iconic Anubis pieces.
Exhibition open 5th November to 24th December 2011
Opening Hours:
Tuesday to Saturday 10am – 4.30pm
Admission Free
Allen Gallery
Church Street
Alton
Hampshire
GU34 2BW
The Mechanicals
August 22, 2011 by admin · Leave a Comment
Our new exhibition , The Mechanicals, produced in collaboration with Science Projects is enjoying a successful first outing at the Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock.
Visitor feedback has been very enthusiastic:
‘Outstanding – for the imagination of adults as well as children’
‘Absolutely awesome. Brilliant for 3 & 40 year old. Shame it’s not permanent’
‘Superb – bringing fun to science and engineering, kids loved it’
Continues until 11th September 2011
Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm
Sunday 2pm – 5pm
The Oxfordshire Museum
Fletcher’s House
Park Street
Woodstock
OX20 1SN
Gallery of all the exhibits here.
Circus Boerhaave
May 4, 2011 by admin · Leave a Comment
Our new exhibition at Museum Boerhaave in Leiden, Netherlands is enchanting. The museum have worked closely with designer Saskia Meulendijks (Meulendijks Art Direction – Rotterdam) to create an atmospheric world of wonders, set in circus tents. Entering the exhibition you could almost be outside on a warm evening, with trees swaying in a breeze (via clever video projections). Enticing posters and colourful lights invite you to enter the painted tents, which are filled with mechanical curiosities. Where to go first? Human Curiosities, where a man in a bath will eat his own weight in spaghetti, or perhaps ‘Amazing Animals’ featuring a skiing dog!
The introductory text reads:-
‘Museum Boerhaave proudly presents a time-honoured tradition: Science and Technology as entertainment.
Kings and Emperors of old liked to put on a show of mechanical games to amuse their guests. Yet, ‘serious’ scientists too dazzled their audiences with physics tricks and spectacular experiments during lectures.
Celebrating a vibrant tradition Circus Boerhaave is proud to introduce, for the first time in the Netherlands, the marvellous, hilarious and at times hair-raising mechanical pieces of Englands Cabaret Mechanical Theatre. Simply push the button to make them come alive and delight and amaze you.
But there is more in store, the Mechanical Theatre’s automata have been placed in a choice environment of physics games from Museum Boerhaave’s historic collections. Modern mechanical theatre is combined with centuries old physics games and puzzles to prove that science and technology are alive and absorbing. There is never a dull moment here. ‘
A local school have produced a large version the CMT Designing Automata Kit for visitors to use. The school children have also been making their own mechanical pieces at school, which you can see on their website here: www.circusboerhaave.nl
Exhibition details:-
Museum Boerhaave
Lange St.
Agnietenstraat 10
2312 WC Leiden
Tel: +31 (0)71-5214224.
Opening Hours
Tuesday-Saturday 10 â?? 17h
Sundays and holidays 12 â?? 17h
Admission
Adults 7.50 Euros
Children/Concessions 3.50 Euros
Automata Workshop at the V&A
March 11, 2011 by admin · Leave a Comment
CMT will be taking part in a free workshop at the V&A in London on 25th March as part of the Friday Late – Playhouse event.
Performing Machines and Automata
Step into a backstage workshop where mechanical theatre is made and automata perform at the touch of a button. Excercise your making skills in drop-in hands-on workshops. Make an automata to link to others to create a long snaking line of machines by the end of the evening.
Click here for more details:
http://www.firetheinventor.co.uk/events
CMT at the Kinetica Art Fair
January 13, 2011 by admin · Leave a Comment
We will be at the Kinetica Art Fair from the 4th – 6th February 2011.
If you are in London in early February we would love to see you at the Fair.
We will have several pieces from the CMT collection on show, including Paul Spooner’s Dream, as well as new works from Arthur Ganson, Paul Spooner, Fi Henshall, Pascale Michalski and Carlos Zapata.
Nairn Automata Exhibition
An exhibition of antique and contemporary automata has been extended by popular demand. Presented by The House of Automata at the Nairn Museum the exhibition will run until the 31st October. It features a number of modern pieces made by Paul Spooner as well as a range of antique automata.
The Clockwork Automataumbrella
June 15, 2010 by admin · 3 Comments
Keith Newstead and Gonzo artist Ralph Steadman have created this incredible new machine, ‘The Clockwork Automataumbrella’. It forms the centrepiece at the Clockwork and Automata Exhibition (18th June to 22nd August 2010).
Having collaborated on the critically acclaimed Terry Gilliam commissioned piece ‘Mad God Universe’ Ralph and Keith have teamed up again.
In this new exhibition Ralph Steadman takes on the soft and wonky world of Clockwork. Inspired by the comedy of Jacques Tati, the random and awkward movement of old clockwork toys and a genuine affection for things that just seem a little bit wrong.
‘Clockwork is hard and precise – let’s do soft and wonky’.
Pushing the boundaries of the traditional materials generally found in the world of clockwork and automata making – Ralph is pushing latex, paper and water to the limits with the help of genius maker Keith Newstead.
Water drips from the large umbrella into funnels, and partly powers the unlikely clockwork mechanism, via a series of tubes and waterwheels. Keith’s vibrant mechanics feature giant flowers and Ralph’s crazy drawings. Finally, an unfortunate rabbit dispenses drinks in an unlikely way. A real conversation piece for parties!
Here are some extracts from Keith’s blog on the process of making the machine with Ralph Steadman.
‘In Ralph’s photo he had some drawings of circles behind the umbrella. He told me he would like one of these to be the sun. We decided that they should form part of some crazy clockwork. A few days later I found some gardening mats that were shaped like sunflowers. The edge of the petals formed perfect gear teeth. I tried to get them to mesh but unfortunately they were not perfectly circular and would not work as gear wheels ( Although they did come tantalisingly close). Undaunted, I used the profile of the petals as the teeth of my own ply gear wheels. I am hoping that Mr Steadman will provide some lovely sun flower art work for the large wheel.’
‘I have always been fasinated with the idea of making a machine that could produce a completely random sound or movement. This is a doomed mission, the reason being that as time and space are infinite, at some point, in some place, all the necessary components will come together to produce me typing this again.So at some point, my random machine won’t be very random any more.’
‘The Automataumbrella is up and running. The water is dripping into the funnels, the sad soft toy is gushing wine from it’s willy, the clockwork is grumbling and grinding. So now it’s just painting and sticking on Ralphs glorious graphics to finish.’
The exhibit is for sale, and can be shipped at the end of August when the exhibition closes.
£17,550 (Excl. VAT)
Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre
February 19, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre opened their new permanent exhibition in Glasgow at the new Trongate 103 Centre last September.
They have a daily programme of performances of their incredible machines, (prices from £4 per adult, and children are free).
Sharmanka also do a lot of work with school groups, and other educational activities.
http://www.trongate103.com/129,162/partners/sharmanka_kinetic_theatre/
There is also a fantastic Russian restaurant in the building, making a good community of Russian culture. If you visit on a Sunday make sure to book a table, and listen to the live music.
http://www.cossachok.com/
Living Mechanicals
January 29, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
A small collection of CMT automata from AutomatomaniA will be shown during the Manipulate Visual Theatre Festival from 2nd Feb to 6th Feb 2010
Living Mechanicals
Travis Theatre
Edinburgh
Automata: Contemporary Mechanical Sculpture
January 22, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
A new exhibition has just opened at the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, WI.
The exhibition features the collection and work of Michael Croft, who will also be giving a lecture “Automata: The Art of Animated Figures” on January 28th at 17.30hrs.
Exhibition continues until 14th March 2010
Image – Man Drinking in the Moon, Dean Lucker, 2009
Click here to download a PDF of the exhibition guide.
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