The Beauty Of Tension

Dan Grayber’s sculptures are machines that only have one function: holding themselves up. But they seem to do it well, and they definitely do it beautifully.

BLDG Blog has a nice overview of his spring-loaded sculptures, which will soon be on exhibit at Johansson Projects in Oakland, California. Here’s what they say about his work:

Dan Grayber isolates machinery from its usual role of fulfilling human needs through placing it in an eternal mode of self-perpetuation. His safety-orange powder coated objects endlessly assure their survival through completing the simple and essential task of holding oneself up. These sculptures, which create problems as they solve them, exude a sovereign elegance, the dignity of not having to justify themselves to an outside source.

Above is Cavity Mechanism #6 w/ Glass Dome. In the words of the artist:

Piece is a pair of spring loaded mechanisms that wedge themselves into the inside of a cavity (the glass dome in this case), suspending themselves. Cable running between pair maintains tension on both mechanisms. If cable were to fail, both mechanisms would fall.

I would love to see how he makes them. [Dan Grayber via BLDG Blog]


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.