The blog of author Dennis Cooper

Motors

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Arthur Ganson Various, 2008 – 2009
Kinetic sculptures constructed of wire and steel and others


Machine with Abandoned Doll


Machine with Grease


Knife Throwing Machine from ‘Shadow of a Doubt’

 

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David Fried Self Organizing Still-Life, 1998
‘Audible sound is transformed live into waves that silently stimulate each of the spheres into motion. The resulting action of the individual spheres and their interactions with one another are undetermined.’

 

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Hans Haacke Wide White Flow, 1967
electric fans, white silk fabric

 

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Robert Breer Rug, 1968
golden aluminium, motors

 

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Julius von Bismarck Egocentric System, 2015
‘It’s a giant concrete saucer spinning on an axis with the artist—who is tall, always in a designer suit jacket and rocking a ZZ Top-worthy beard—constantly inside. While the concave concrete structure spins, von Bismarck sits at a desk, or lies in a bed, or carefully walks around.’

 

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Michael Sailstorfer Forst, 2010
trees, engines

 

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David Ellis True Value (Paint Fukette), 2011
kinetic sound installation by David Ellis with composition by Roberto Carlos Lange

 

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Björn Schülke Various, 2014 – 2018
sculptures, video- and sound installations, solar art


Aeronaut


Vision Machine #8


Sentinel #1

 

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J.C. Fontanive Orange-Barred Sulphur Butterfly Flipbook Machine, 20212
machine, analog animations

 

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Michael Gottlieb Zoomba, 2014
sculpture, motor, cocaine

 

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Maxim Zhestkov Untitled, 2018
‘Archive experiments with real-time installations and transferring energy from one kind to another.’

 

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Alan Rath Voyeur III, 2007
Fiberglass, aluminum, G‐10, custom electronics, LCDs

 

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John Douglas Powers Locus, 2015
wood, steel, plastic and electric motor

 

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Ujoo + Limheeyoung Machine with Hair Caught in It, 2017
stainless steel, electronics, dc motor, human hair, chain

 

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Valdis Celms Greece, 1967
‘The artist made the strange kinetic object Greece in parallel to his academic assignments, while being a student at the Art Academy’.

 

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Choe U-Ram Round Table, 2022
‘“Round Table” is an installation work that features 18 headless straw figures that are all crouched down to hold on their backs a large black table. On top of the table is one single straw head and as the head rolls toward one edge the figure will try to claim it as its own while in the process allowing it to roll further away.’

 

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Simon Whetham Various, 2021 – 2022
motorised instruments


As yet untitled 6th piece almost complete


Two dancing VHS loader/players


There’s always one quiet one…

 

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Otto Piene Lichtballett, 1961
Synthetic sheeting, metal stands, light fixtures, transformer, and string

 

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SpY Reflection, 2022
20 traffic mirrors, wire, motors

 

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Mathieu Zurstrassen \pär′ti kəl\, 2020
‘”\pär′ti kəl\”is an interactive data sonification device, composed of an automated one string guitar driven by the Invisible.’

 

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Hrvoje Hirsl Spheres (Euclidian space), 2014
‘The number of the spheres is variable, depending on the size and position of the work in the space. The spheres are randomly placed in the space, unequally distant from each other, creating fields of blanks and clusters. They are pneumatic and they respond to visitors, like some excited organic creatures, leaping in the air with an accompanying whistle when someone approaches them and tries to pass by them. They are connected by a system of rubber tubes to an air supply, that is, a compressor. A system of valves and sensors determines the order of their ignition and extinction, depending upon the presence of the visitors.’

 

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Mesplé Killing Time, 2017
‘As a viewer approaches, a sensor detects their presence and triggers the handmade electromagnet to begin a curated sequence; drawing and releasing the ferrofluid with breath-like motions.’

 

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Julio Le Parc Continuel lumière cylindre, 1962
sculpture with rotating light inside 4 mirrors

 

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Bob Trotman Have A Nice Day, 2017
wood, motor, tempera, wax

See it here

 

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Rebecca Horn Bee’s Planetary Map, 2021
‘Empty beehives fill the space with the haunting buzz of a wandering swarm of bees. Honey-yellow light streams from the suspended baskets, which is in turn reflected off of round, rotating mirrors and projected across walls and ceilings. At regular intervals, a paving stone attached to a mechanical winch falls from the ceiling and shatters one of the mirrors. Spinning splinters of mirror chase panicked scraps of light across the room.’

 

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Kenny Wong Various, 2016
‘(1) A slightly unbalanced machine pointing downwards is waiting to spin in high speed. Its kinetic motion comes from a single propeller from quadcopter parts. The noise of the spinning propeller amplifies the uneasiness, tension and fragility of the human depiction that spins in front of the viewer. The machine rotates at various speeds, randomly decided by the microcomputer. At the same time that is in motion, it attempts to stabilize the LCD display with a video of a woman taken from overhead. (2) Each sheet is fitted with 5 small motors, which produces vibrations in the metal. As the metal sheet thickness varies, vary different sounds are produced, with every imperfection and discrepancy on the surface creating new and unique qualities of sound. (3) The solenoid is randomly pressing the power button of the broken TV. A structure was built to barely hold the TV panel at the corner to decay. In behind, it is still playing a video that unable to display correctly.’


Undermine


The Canvas Of Resonance


Undermine.interim_1

 

 

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p.s. Hey. Terry Ratchett asked me to thank you for your attention and good words yesterday. ** Dominik, Hi!!! Interesting about ‘Drag Race’. That does make me want to check it out to understand what the problems are. I totally think its huge success is a big victory. I’ve just always been drawn to the more artistic and experimental/ confrontational or oddball drag practitioners: Vaginal Davis, the Goddess Bunny, Deaundra Peek, Divine, Leigh Bowery, Ethyl Eichelberger, etc. and ‘DR’ has always seemed too … vanilla (?) for me or something. I tend to do my escort and slave hunting first thing in the morning while I’m coffeeing. It concentrates me and helps wake me up. Love is very lucky! My copy of ‘Missed. Better Still’ is waiting for me in my LA apartment. Love teaching the world to sing in perfect harmony, G. ** CAUTIVOS, Hi. Ah, happy that Terry’s post made successful introductions. I’ll try to find one of Haslett’s novels in a store and poke around in it. My year has good vibes so far. What are you particularly looking forward to doing or happening this year? Hugs back. ** _Black_Acrylic, Oh, man, I really hope you’re feeling a whole lot better today. Are you? ** Charalampos Tzanakis, I wish you a happy new year too. I’m not so pumped to do all the work we need to do before we shoot the film, but I’m super pumped to actually get the cameras aimed and make it. Favorite Rollin? Hm, not sure. Maybe ‘Requiem for a Vampire’? But I also really like the two you like. All the best back from your non-French French friend. ** David Ehrenstein, Thanks, David! ** Jack Skelley, I just copied and pasted and inserted bold and italics where necessary, so Terry gets all the kudos. My NY(E) was as flat as a pancake, and I looovvve pancakes. I hope yours was mountainous. Turns out I won’t get to LA until after the 7th, so I’ll see you first on Saturday! ** Misanthrope, I can’t say for sure, but I suspect Terry would have waved his hands in the air like he just didn’t care (in the good way) when he saw that he’d creeped you out. American football’s draggy start-and-stop rhythm is just completely not my rhythm. And I think I only like sports where you can actually see the players’ faces and actual bodies while they’re playing. Like tennis enough that I’ll check out the new crop. My policy is that every new year is more interesting than the years before it, and, so far, it always is. ** Steve Erickson, Cool. I know Terry was happy to read that. Staley was an excellent vocalist. It’s really a shame that he nosedived so early. ** Philip Hopbell, Hi. Please do. I’ll be mostly in the States starting soon until mid-April, and then I’ll be in Paris most of the time ad infinitum. ** Sarah, Hi, Sarah! That’s so incredibly kind of you to say. Thank you. I’d love to get to know what you do if you feel like it. Very HNY to you! ** Nick., Hi! My year’s starting A-okay-ish so far. Yours too, right? Well, I mean, it doesn’t sound like that situation with you and the DJ is hopeless at all. As painful as it can be, that going crazy state of mind is such a great energy. Easy for me to say since I’m not in that state, but, yeah, every bit of luck in the world that whatever’s ‘meant’ to result results. I didn’t make a NY resolution but it would probably just be to make our new film as great as we want it to be. And I’d like to finish a book of short fiction I’m working on too, if that’s not asking too much. Have you resolved to do anything potentially amazing? I’ve never been able to explain why even to myself, but my favorite animal has always been the giraffe. There’s something so wrong about giraffes that just dazzles me. My friend George Miles had a pet snake. One time it got loose and killed the neighbor’s excessively loudly barking dog, which made George love it even more. I’m good. What’s the best thing that happened to you today? ** malcolm, Hey, m. Cool. Synchronicity. About ‘Daisies’. And just good old plain cool about your Old Skull love. I’m good. You? HNY right back. Nah, I just pretended it was any other day that people around me were strangely excited about. Did you mark the occasion wildly? ** Right. A bunch of hopefully interesting things that require motors to exist for you today. See you tomorrow.

11 Comments

  1. CAUTIVOS

    Hi Dennis. Very interesting post. I haven’t read anything else by Hasslett so I can’t recommend any book of his stories or any novel with which to waste time uselessly. I would be sorry if you are so busy that you make yourself read something that is not proven to be good. I still recommend Bernard Quiriny’s book Contes Carnivores (carnivorous tales) author who, if I’m not mistaken, is Belgian and I have a rereading pending. I just hope you have a good day.

  2. Dominik

    Hi!!

    I agree – vanilla is a great word to describe “Drag Race.” I think that’s what makes it so popular, which, by and large, is a success in my opinion as well. It just smells too much like money, and no real love or respect for drag, for my taste nowadays. I adore your taste in drag, though! Personally, I’m drawn to more indefinable and extreme forms myself. I can wholeheartedly recommend “Dragula” if you don’t know it!

    Oh, what a lovely way to start each morning – in the company of escorts and slaves!

    That’d be a positively goosebump-inducing experience – hearing the world sing in perfect harmony. Thank you, love! Love asking you which of the above pieces you’d like him to install in your living room, Od. (I’d go for Mesplé’s “Killing Time.” I really like it.)

  3. _Black_Acrylic

    Otto Piene – Lichtballett is pretty cool and the fact that it’s from 1961 makes it even more impressive.

    Re drag acts, I always thought Lily Savage was quite good. Since then he has become more mainstream, but the early stuff has always been worth a look.

    Unfortunately I had another bad night last night but I had the GP come round to the new flat today, yet another example of how the NHS is a thing to be treasured. So the guy prescribed me some antibiotics which I’m hoping will do the trick.

  4. Misanthrope

    Dennis, I can tell you this: that start-stop dynamic is enhanced a thousand-fold when you go to an actual game and watch it in person. It’s not as bad watching it on the TV because you can always get up and do something, get a drink, go to the bathroom, talk shit with fellow viewers, etc. But at a game? Ugh. Like, I’m sitting there, they’ve stopped for no reason (usually a TV timeout or some bullshit) and then I hear the roar of the crowd and they’ve started back. It’s so hard to follow. And looks completely different too. The field is so big and the players look so tiny and spaced apart. You don’t see that on TV.

    But yeah, I still love it.

    Man, I forgot my real favorite: Tsitsipas! The Greek Jesus. I just love the way he plays. The Australian Open is next week I believe and should be fun.

    Totally agree on the new year. Let’s do this!

  5. Jack Skelley

    Dennis – In this morning’s dream a bunch of us including you and Amy are all sitting around on a wooden bench in someone’s full noisy party house. Rather than hair, or supplementing yr existing hair, you have beautiful fuzzy colored pipe cleaners as hair design. Like skinny braids. I ask you to pose yr head at a certain angle to catch the light and perfect design. Hazard an interpretation?

  6. David Ehrenstein

    Holy Motors

  7. malcolm

    hi dennis

    i rewatched totally fucked up by araki and then went to a friends party for new years. ate snacks and all that. nothing crazy, only 10 or so people

    been experiencing a lot of synchronicity recently. almost in a truman show type way. read about an underrated album this morning, thought about how i know another album by the same band, then went to work and had a dude come in with a copy of it to give to my boss. had a conversation about braille… a blind dude walked in 5 minutes later. couple other things. it’s been weird. i read the artists way by julia cameron last year and supposedly it means i’m on the right track, so that’s comforting. i’ll focus on that rather than the truman show stuff

    my boss gave me a copy of a cd he bought in new zealand ages ago, an EP called “steam railways of britian” by dudley benson. only 75 copies ever made. really fantastic, simple and sweet pop music, some beautiful acapella tracks + some piano songs. nearly cried listening. i’ll send the files your way if you’re interested. 20 minute runtime

    love the motors! i was in air cadets as a kid and spent a few summers learning about airplanes, maps, motors, etc, i’ve always found the way a motor works really cool. little explosions over and over and over again

    see you tomorrow

  8. Robert

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=MiXZECAe094&si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE&t=681

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CkFuLAoRdI

    Hi Dennis,

    I don’t know if you’ll want to sit through the entirety of these videos but aren’t they wacky? You get sucked in for a few minutes and then you see Anakin Skywalker again. And I can’t get enough of how the VR hands gesture, they look super hypnotizing.

    Saw a video of a surgical robot earlier and the knife throwing machine made me think of it, but it was thankfully a little bit more advanced. Still freaky to imagine how you’d feel lying belly-up on an operating table watching mister four arms come rolling over above you. Hope you had a good Monday!

  9. Sarah

    Hi Dennis. Thanks for replying to my comment. I knew you would but it still made me happy to read! I’m just a receptionist basically, but I write as much as I can. Lots of fiction, not much of it published. Working on a website w some friends for fiction and art and interviews and hopefully we’re gonna make movies… Lots of ambition and lots of half or quarter-made stuff, lol. I’m fairly young though so I have some hope I’ll do something good, plus having collaborators always puts pressure on it. I’m pretty inspired by your work ethic. Hope your day is good. I guess this will be the best year so far, right?

  10. ShadeoutMapes:O

    Ahhh I’m back!! Yes, today was the first day of my last semester of school, and sadly, I couldn’t be there (I think I told you why) which is tremendously disappointing as I had been looking forward to ceramics and theater, and yes, I am a theater kid, what can I say? theater attracts the gays like light to a moth and I happen to be the queerest of moths.😖 OMG I can’t believe I said that!! Whatever, I’m in a good mood and I’m not going to delete it!! I saw the Whale today, I thought it was ok, although this may be bias as I worship Brendan Frasier <33

    Anyways…OH almost forgot! I responded to the email you sent me, but you don't have to reply to it if your busy, or its kind of nosy, but if you ignore it, I understand why!!

    peace….

  11. Nick.

    Hi! yes year going good so far! And I actually have resolved to do things this year! Sorry for the ambiguous statement I don’t exactly know what things I intend to do exactly but I do have some ideas and a fire I’ve been stoking inside for awhile and id like to let it out into the world somehow. And thanks I cant even tell if I like him anymore but maybe that’s cause I don’t know if he likes me. Omg that would be my favorite pet too after something cool like that! What was the snakes name if you remember? And thanks for sharing that with me. Ugh best thing that happened I just sat in the dark all day and rested and really enjoyed that. What was yours? Giraffes to me are oddly elegant and both simple and brutal so I think it makes sense you like them. And oh id ask for more on the writing but I’ll wait till you finish and it gives me something to look forward to! Simple calm day today so I don’t have much to say but I hope your well. Also really liked the knife throwing machine I like knives a lot so that one was my fav & new question what would your dream superpower be?

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