Between beauty and utility (2). Tightrope mobile workshop

Taller Omnívoros
Calle Sierra del Segura, 22 local, 28038 Madrid

As part of our series of workshops "Between beauty and utility" Alfredo Morte presents a workshop focusing on working with mobile wooden elements.

For making an object move autonomously and in a controlled manner, we need careful calculation of weights and volumes and of course a precise manual execution. But the results are amazing: Calder used this technique for his already classical mobiles. One of the most acclaimed toys from the beginning of the XX century makes use of it too: a wooden tightrope on a unicycle that moves back and forth without losing stability while the trapeze is suspended.

The final result of this workshop is the recreation of this toy in subtle equilibrium based on a classical circus number: depending on the tension applied to the string, and therefore its inclination, the wheel rolls on the line while the artist pedals carefully.

The maximum 10 students will organize themselves according to the different tasks. While a group copies the silhouettes onto the wood, other cut out the wheels and the figures for finally concluding joining each fragment.

Useful data:

Place: Taller Omnívoros, C/ Sierra del Segura, 22 | www.taller.omnivoros.net
Date and time: Saturday 29 of November, from 10 to 14 h.
Participants: adults and teenagers (at least 14 years old and accompagnied by a tutor)
Fee: 50 € (materials are included)
15 persons max. / group
Workshop led by: Alfredo Morte. Morte studied Technical Design and Sculpture and graduated dishonorably in Philosophy. He presents himself as a carpenter for emotional reasons. What he knows about electricity, he learned by experimenting with electric junk and trash collected from the street. For now 10 years he has been working for several projects and independent art collectives focusing on interactivity and thoughtful public participation. With his experimentational works that use mechanisms and sound, he has participated in international exhibitions such as INTERFERENCE (Netherlands), IN-SONORA IV (Madrid), Saout (Morocco), ARTe-SONoro OFF (Madrid), transonic (Mexico) and Estampa - Tentaciones (Madrid).