Some of our automata are appearing at Mottisfont, National Trust, as part of their Nutcracker Christmas event. Saturday 29 November – Sunday 4 January 2015 Start your visit with a peek into a twinkling Christmas party, then ascend the staircase to the sound of ticking clocks, to enter the dream mechanical world of the Nutcracker. […]
Archives for 2014
The Turk by Pierre Mayer
The latest piece from Pierre Mayer is based on the famous life-size automaton, The Chess Player Turk. “It was a project that was in the back of my mind many years ago. I consulted my late friend Christian Fechner who advised me to use moving gears inside the cabinet. Then I asked the legendary John […]
Working with Brass, Part 2 – Bending Brass – Dug’s Tips 14
In the last instalment of this column, we looked at some of the many ways you can cut brass for your automaton project. Once cut, there is a good chance you will need to bend the brass in some way to suit your needs. Let’s take a look at some of the methods for bending […]
The Science of Conversation
We’re delving into the archives to take a closer look at some of Paul Spooner’s automata. This piece is from 2010. “Although it’s tempting to think of ways in which I might have been foreseeing the current double-headed political situation in Britain, I actually thought of this machine while talking to my dad. I realised […]
Finding the Value
In 2011 Peter Madsen left his estate to York Museum’s Trust. Amongst is bequest was his art collection. Finding the Value is an exhibition in which commissioned artists respond to items from the collection and open up questions of the inheritance of cultural values. Artist Simon Venus has created a mechanical tableaux for the exhibition. […]