Mechanised Kinetic Sculptures
What makes Jennifer Townley and her sculptures so unique and hypnotizing is her obsession with artwork that combines principles of physics, human psychology and perception to create instances of optical illusion.
Courtesy of Jennifer Townley
With the simple circular motion emerging from a rotary engine probing the carefully placed fins, the resultant motion of the kinetic sculpture produces this feeling of cold industrial precision, mechanical complexity and of being stuck in an infinite loop that brings with it a strange hypnotic peace.
Playing with the tendency of human beings to look for objects of symmetry or a certain kind of order, Townley’s sculpture challenges this human urge at various levels and brings with its rhythmic torsion a strangely satisfying balance between chaos and order, intriguing one’s curiosity, forcing one to wonder how each part functions and why one feels so lost while looking at this hypnotic piece of art.
By: Shamita Chaudhry
