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What makes kinetic sculptures move?
How artists create energy
You might remember from high school science a thing or two about Kinetic Energy, KE for short. You might have been fascinated by it conceptually, but you also might never really seen it in action in the context of art.
When we refer to kinetic energy, we are referring to an object in motion.
An object with KE has movement.
It is either falling, getting pulled by gravity, or rolling down a slope. It could be powered by wind to move through air. It could have a motor mechanism to propel it forward, such as a car or an airplane.
All objects with KE have mass, or weight.
Thus, to measure KE we use the two measurable units, mass(m), and velocity(v), ie, the speed of the object’s movement.
The unit for mass is kilograms(kg), and for velocity meters/seconds(m/s). The result, the measurement for KE, is rendered in joules(J).
The formula used to measure KE is:
Thus, an object that has mass(m), or weight, and has velocity(v), or is moving, has KE.
That’s a lot of theory to apply to an art object.
In essence, when an object is called kinetic, it’s powered by a force that makes it move.
The kinetic energy of mobiles
In most sculptural art objects, the force of wind is used to make parts or all of the object move in space.
The most playful art structure using air currents as energy is a mobile, (pronounced mōbīlé).
A mobile is an assembly of objects using the concept of equilibrium. The artist may use sturdy but bendable rods, in most cases made of some type of metal. The rods are then formed to hold weighted objects on either side.
The objects balance each other to keep the rods horizontal. An object hanging off at the end of a rod can also be another rod holding something.
