Thixotropes by Troika
at Selfridges until January '12
London
Earlier this fall Troika introduced their new commission 'Thixotropes' at London's iconic shopping centre, Selfridges. The sculpture consists of 320 metres of led banding making up 8 separate parts that are spinning at a speed of 360 rpm. The effect is an ethereal light sculpture that confronts busy holiday shoppers as they franticly search Selfridges for the perfect gift.
From Troika:
'Thixotropes' is a kinetic sculpture that is comprised of a series of eight illuminated mechanised structures, each of them shaped as a composition of intersecting angular and geometric forms that are made of thin tensed steel banding lined with rows of LED's.
The constructions continuously revolve around their own axis thereby materialising the path of the light and dissolving the spinning structures into compositions of aerial cones, spheres and ribbons of warm and cold light while giving life and shape to an immaterial construct.
'Thixotropes' combines Troika's interest in art and science and stretches the boundaries of a long history of light painting photography that can be traced back to 1914 when Frank Gilbreth, along with his wife Lillian Moller Gilbreth, used small lights and the open shutter of a camera to track the motion of manufacturing and clerical workers.
Merging technology with their artistic practice, Troika's kinetic sculptures explore the intersection of scientific thought, observation and human experience in a rational and rationalised world, and describes how logic and reason live in the presence of the metaphysical and surreal.
'Thixotropes', Troika, 2011 from Troika on Vimeo.
Thixotropes in Selfridges by Troika
