Katherine Habeck

20 Jan 2016

 

 

 

I chose a bot made by Darius Kazemi called Spinny Machine that “simulates a series of mechanical linkages (+ noise) to draw a curve 4x/day.” The result are GIFs that show the same mechanism, a line with several joints that are variously tightened, loosened, with some variable amount of friction. One end of the line is anchored while the rest spins freely. The GIFs record the line made by these variable spinny machines as they spin. The paths are sometimes smooth and fluid and other times jolty and bumpy. What I find interesting about this bot is that it is essentially an exploration of gesture, a digital record of confined set of rules that tweaked slightly each time the machine runs. I’m interested in how something ephermal can be mapped, recorded, and explored through digital means. This bot seems like an investigation of that idea.