What Is It You Do?

I’m a kinetic sculptor, but more in the sense that my kinetic sculpture concepts are featured in a larger experience. Let’s say I’ve imagined a moving 5-metre moving-parts windmill. That Kinetic design, that kinetic windmill will only be a part of what is the total experience. It’s probably in a topiary garden, with a dragonfly robot scheduled to fly around the entire landscape experience. I tend to imagine kinetic sculptures as lending movement, height, and hard materials (metal, stone, composites) into an installation piece.

Why Are You a Kinetic Sculptor, Why Do You Do It?

You mean as opposed to regular or immobile sculpture? Yea, good question. Kinetic movement in sculptures still has some ‘undiscovered’ possibilities. It’s a newer form of sculpture art, so it’s natural the breadth of artist working in the field hasn’t been as large as in your more traditional art forms, like painting or static sculpture.

Plus, I think kinetic sculpture is cool. It gets me out of bed, inspired.

What Makes Oddtoe’s Kinetic Sculpture Unique or Different?

For one thing, robotics. Also, movement can start by algorithmic design. Movement to me as Oddtoe can be started by a robot. Introducing machines to an artistic equation creates so many places for creativity.
The design of the kinetic system is something I work on now. By the kinetic system, I mean like the system of triggers, actions, and interactions in a Rube Goldberg-sense. How even a George Rhoads, a favorite kinetic sculptor of mine would approach his kinetic systems when he drew up his plans.

What’s Your ‘Perfect’ Kinetic Sculpture Client?

The client certainly has a vision and a means to get there. A client who can see the excitement of what kinetic sculpture can be in the future, see its creative potential inside the installation art world.

I can see a couple of ‘perfect clients’ outside the art world, too. The type of large-scale kinetic sculpture that Oddtoe’s geared to design also feature in the business cases of resorts and destination events. So those individual whose business is it to make a name, a brand and are looking to promote real estate or specific location like holiday resort, amusement park, or a public space — those individuals are seeking out creative artists like Oddtoe to work with on exciting physical experiences and art pieces.

Last group I could see are event and brand marketers and the creative agencies who work with them. Physical experiences, event experiences are inherently designed to be special, something their audiences want to share — through work of mouth, through social media. The stuff I design as a kinetic sculptor looks good on Instagram, Facebook, on Twitter. These images then travel for these clients. So yea, I think marketers and brands can see the return-on-investment on an immersive or experiential design experience, featuring a kinetic sculpture.

As a Kinetic Sculptor, What’s Your ‘Perfect’ Project?

The sculpture itself is beefy. By ‘beefy’, I mean it it’s substantial in terms of the overall proportion of the art experience I’m creating. If it’s not the main thing you’re fascinated with as a viewer, it’s the second-most thing you’re interested in, perhaps after only a topiary piece or organic focal point I placed in the center. So yea, I put a lot of energy in the physical 3d design phase.
So not only is it big, it also has to move or be triggered for movement uniquely. As I mentioned earlier, I think brings computer algorithms and robots into the mix is exciting. So another request I’d have for what would make a kinetic sculpture quote-unquote ‘perfect’ is that I’m using some sort of new technology — a new style robot or using some creative logic for an algorithm which I’d have my staff at Datalabs working on. Automation and algorithms are the future of kinetic sculpture design. At least, that’s what I think.

What’s the Last Crazy Thing You Thought About Kinetic Sculpture?

Whoa. I have a few. This is where I tend to go in my creative Happy Place.

The last crazy thing I thought about kinetic sculpture — a thought that has no real value {laughs} — was around rubber dolls heads. Ha. I saw a great social post about an Irish student’s recall about a ketamine experience gone wrong,. When this author thought to illustrate his or her feelings of drug-induced embarrassment, so he or she attached a photo of a doll head, with its face sucked in, a kind of a shameful facial implosion. I got a belly chuckle out of that image, so I started to imagine a kinetic sculpture experience involving a multitude of rubber doll heads, their faces sucked in and algorithmically distorted with air pressure technology. {laughs} But then that project started looking like the Game of Thrones’ Hall of Many Faces. And then even I got creeped out ! {laughs}

So yea, that was my last crazy thought about kinetic sculpture. Still might work on that project though. {laughs}