Apparatus for Transtemporal Occurrence of Impending Space
Apparatus · Public Art · North Wharf, Docklands, Melbourne
Extensive research suggests this is a genuine 19th-century invention that sees fifty years into the possible future. It was recently restored after being 'misplaced' in council storage for eighty years, but its predictive automaton is permanently jammed on one vision: Melbourne in the 1930s, as its inventors imagined it.
The steampunk exterior on the banks of the Yarra hides an automata theatre behind a porthole: a dieselpunk future of suspended tram cars, dirigibles and grand art deco towers that never materialised. Winding the handle generates the power and the light to see it.
As in all of my interactive pieces, the viewing portal is set at a height that works for both children and wheelchair users.
- Client
- City of Melbourne
- Dimensions
- 2800 H × 1000 W × 1500 L mm
- Materials
- Stainless steel, bronze, copper, electro-mechanical components, sterling silver, lights
- Completed
- 2014
