the kinetic art of andrew smith

way back when i was around ten i had a friend who showed me his game of ”mousetrap”. do you remember that game with all its little bits and pieces? mousetrap was inspired by the drawings of rube goldberg which were then translated into what are now commonly termed “rube goldberg machines”. rube goldberg machines are essentially incredibly overengineered machines that perform simple tasks in a very convoluted fashion. rowland emmett’s whimsical kinetic machines are typical examples of rube goldberg machines.

well i wonder if andrew smith, played mousetrap and never forgot it. his work is infinitely more complex and much more interesting and imaginative, but the premise is essentially the same. an inordinate amount of energy expended to achieve very little - but it's absolutely mesmerizing to watch. in fact you can’t take your eyes off it . . . .

here’s a cool overview of his work narrated by smith himself . . .


here’s andrew smith’s kinetic billiard ball sculpture . . .


here’s a lovely film of smith’s work featuring a whole heap of gears doing little more than going through the motions (which i think is the point of this piece!)


if you’re interested in seeing more of smith’s machines, lots and lots of machines with lovely videos and stills of each of them, then you must visit andrew’s brilliant website!