Kinetic Artist Arthur Ganson

The Long Now talk by Arthur Ganson was rather interesting and thought provoking for me. I am not usually that big of a fan of kinetic art, as most of it seems to be a who can top who lately, but his pieces seemed much more thought provoking for me. (I will keep my critiques and thoughts short, so they do not taint your own towards the work.) He had with him, the thinking chair. It was a neat piece with a chair that walks around a rock that is suspended above the gear structure.



It is so intricate and yet so heavy at the same time, with the rock above all the delicate metal pieces and gears that move the chair. It also seems to be walking on its "hands" to me, which places the piece totally off balance. There is a tenuousness to it all, where you expect the chair to fall, or a teacher to yell "Four on the floor please" at it, and yet it seems perfectly at peace with itself.

My other favorite was Machine with Chair:



I am a big fan of organic shapes and textures in artwork and architecture. The music combined with a machine dancing with a chair is so moving and beautiful to me. I am not sure if it is the dancer in me that was drawn to this particular installation, but I think the form of the machine is beautiful and the layering of the classical guitar music makes it all work together. It is form and machinery all in a perfect harmony. The most amazing thing to me is the small amount of tolerance for error that Mr. Ganson achieves with all of his art pieces.

Cory's Yellow Chair was also one that I found a great appreciation:



Mr. Ganson talked about the moment of now when explaining this piece, and I love that concept. When is now? I find that the moving meditation that is performed before my classes at Fat Chance Bellydance help to bring me into that moment of now. That movement focuses me in on what exactly I am doing at that moment with those people. This chair is also a focusing point to me. The momentary time when the chair is assembled is a definite moment of now, and then, that brief completeness is taken apart as the chair explodes.

Those are just my thoughts and reflections. If you go to Arthur Ganson's website he has many more videos of his works, including the Machine with Concrete and Margot's Cat, two other thought provoking pieces that you should really see for yourself and ponder without my thoughts cluttering yours.