Source: the artist

The idea that led to “Margot’s Other Cat” came to Ganson while he was dealing with a computer program that simulates movements of an object on the Moon. He got the urge to develop a mechanical sculpture that displays motion with the very same elegance. In “Margot’s Other Cat,” Ganson seemingly deactivates the laws of nature—here, the gravitational field. While the cat moves uniformly from left to right, the chair completes bizarre movements above it.

Credits
Arthur Ganson

Source: the artist

A flock of birds, butterflies, or leaves fluttering in the breeze—nature engenders an atmosphere of harmony in utterly simple fashion. This was the source of Arthur Ganson’s inspiration. Scraps of paper driven by a finely tuned mechanism are set into gentle motion. In every one of his machines, Arthur Ganson sees in some way a self-portrait. For this piece, the artist has been lead by meditations on the nature of his being. “I am animal and thus am subject to the laws of physics and chemistry. I am spirit and thus am not bound by any physical law. Everything is revealed by the nature of my physicality. Nothing is revealed by the nature of my physicality.”

Credits
Arthur Ganson

Source: the artist

The human being is the only creature on Earth capable of building machines that can outlive their creator. The speed at which the cogwheels in “Machine with Concrete” turn is slowed down by 12 pairs of reductors. The last cogwheel needs two trillion years to complete one rotation. In contrast to this figure, mankind first appeared on Earth only a few million years ago. Whereas the everyday life of modern men and women increasingly seems to be accelerating, changes in the universe take place in time dimensions of billions of years.

Credits
Arthur Ganson

Source: the artist

It is possible to make a toy out of anything. This machine was born out of the impulse to play and the accidental discovery of the sonic potential of the eggshell. It is both a farcical meditation on the complexity of complex gear ratios and a machine for sending a strange and unique ‘Morse code’ message to the far reaches of the universe. The rhythm of clicks is based on the ratios of the numbers of teeth on the five main gears multiplied together. (The number of revolutions each gear must make before the pattern begins to repeat is stamped below each gear.)

Credits
Arthur Ganson; Courtesy Private Collection

Source: the artist

Where does inanimate material end and where does life begin? Arthur Ganson lets his “Thinking Chair” straddle the boundary between those two states. Through its movements—which resemble the gait of a human being walking on two legs—the chair exhibits animate traits. Arthur Ganson had the idea that led to this work while taking a walk. Near his studio, there is a small rock outcropping on a trail, which he likes to walk around in slow circles, deep in thought. During this walking meditation, each cycle finds him back in the same physical place but in a slightly different emotional place.

Credits
Arthur Ganson