2023 Bridges Conference Art Exhibition
Kenneth Brecher, Randy Rhine
Artists
Kenneth Brecher
Professor of Astronomy and Physics, Emeritus
Departments of Astronomy and Physics, Boston University
Boston, Massachusetts USA
Statement
KB is a physicist with interests and contributions to astronomy, physics, science education and history of science. He also has designed a wide range of dynamical objects, many of which have an artistic intent in their development. RR is a craftsman with the ability to turn novel ideas into wooden sculptures.
Artworks
Single hoops have been designed for use as rolling toys for over two millennia. However, it was not until 1967 that anyone combined two hoops into a single object that can roll by meandering over a plane. The German designer Peer Clahsen invented many play objects that he collectively called “Objeux”. Amongst these is the object he variously called “Orbis” and/or “Sin”. We have designed (and one of us - RR – has fabricated) a larger more elaborate version of that object which, for obvious reasons, we call the “Holey Roller”. It produces a playful visage when it rolls upright and induces the “barber poll” illusion when set horizontally on a turntable and rotated. (That effect appears to have been first shown at the Exploratorium in 1973.)