A Brief History of Kinetic Sculpture

The word sculpture brings instantly to the mind the image of a
statue or a construct fixed in it's place or portable, but the mind
always pictures a static three dimensional object in relation to
space and time, this description can be extended to encompass
the relief mode of sculpture as well.

The idea of a sculpture being a stationary object that we endow
with aesthetic qualities has prevailed in the western practice of
art right through the centuries, as it is evident from the bulk of
the accumulated artefacts that remain today and the notion of
any interaction through the movement of certain part or parts of
it, with it's environment, is relatively a novel introduction.
Some eastern societies had simple forms of what might be
considered a kinetic sculpture like wind chimes or prayer wheels
but there is no evidence that the motion aspect of such objects
has ever had an influencing effect or parallel developments in
western art, ancient or modern.

Early in the twentieth century, the Russian constructivist artist
Naum Gabo was, separately, similarly exploring new ideas in art;
sculptures that continually change their appearance, but are
constant in what they represent. Alexander Calder followed up
and fully developed these ideas of a kinetic assemblage that
sculpts space, his definitive work has accomplished the kinetic
sculptor's aim as to make spatial motion itself an integral part of
the essence and design of the sculpture and not just add some
movement to a traditionally completed static sculpture.

Early kinetic sculptures were abstract motorised constructions,
a sort of mechanical models, many imitating the solar system,
with simulated planets and moons that would carve circles of
space as they moved around each other.
Calder's work has developed on, to building very delicate
wire sculptures employing wind power instead of mechanical
motors and to achieve that end, he tipped them with light metal
sails to catch the breeze and produce the desired motion and
aesthetic effect.
These whimsical sculptures were dubbed "Mobiles".

Kinetic sculpture has long been acknowledged as a legitimate
branch of sculpture and has matured rapidly since it's early
experimental days to produce astonishing variations of the genre
and incorporating wide range of dynamic media that depend for their
aesthetic effect on constantly changing patterns and their conceived
relationships and interaction, that is taking place through a carefully
designed and implemented spatio-dynamic stratum.

Mobiles continue to be made by artists today but remain a smaller
branch in comparison to other variants of kinetic sculpture.
The most noted offshoot of these is, perhaps, the enviro-kinetic
sculptures, which are often situated purposely in locations that
take advantage of the elements and/or the surrounds and
incorporate them in, for example a sculpture that is situated at
seaside employing the wind and the waves to generate the
movement of the various parts that produce a calculated aesthetic
form-change accordingly. The Australian sculptor Jenny Turpin's
work comes to mind here, among others. Some employ the running
water and plants in gardens or add the play of light at different
times of the day to an ever-changing reflection off a rotating panel
in an atrium of a public building, while some cleverly solicit the
spectator's involvement to achieve similar results, and so on.