A few magnificent machines that were recommended to me this weekend:
The MONIAC computer (1949, Bill Phillips): an economics engine.
From Wikipedia:
The MONIAC was approximately 2 m high, 1.2 m wide and almost 1 m deep, and consisted of a series of transparent plastic tanks and pipes which were fastened to a wooden board. Each tank represented some aspect of the UK national economy and the flow of money around the economy was illustrated by coloured water. At the top of the board was a large tank called the treasury. Water (representing money) flowed from the treasury to other tanks representing the various ways in which a country could spend its money. For example, there were tanks for health and education. To increase spending on health care a tap could be opened to drain water from the treasury to the tank which represented health spending. Water then ran further down the model to other tanks, representing other interactions in the economy. Water could be pumped back to the treasury from some of the tanks to represent taxation. Changes in tax rates were modeled by increasing or decreasing pumping speeds.
How it works:
Yes, I’m adding this to the field trip list.
I found the MONIAC computer via Peter Barron
The Forgiveness Machine, (2008, Karen Green).
built by David Kreitz, based on Karen Green’s design
The description from The Guardian:
“The forgiveness machine was seven-feet long,” she says, “with lots of weird plastic bits and pieces. Heavy as hell.” The idea was that you wrote down the thing that you wanted to forgive, or to be forgiven for, and a vacuum sucked your piece of paper in one end. At the other it was shredded, and hey presto.
ecudiélle has requested that Green create this beautiful machine for him:
Dear Karen Green
will you please build
a machine for me?
’cause I often thought
that I could jumble
all things I like
the music I like
the colours I like
the tastes I like
the smells I like
the sounds I like
in a big cardboard box
and shak’n’rattle a bit
and oops would come out
the person I am
but it never worked
so, Karen Green
will you please
build a machine for me
so that I can see
who the fuck I should be? thank you
I found The Forgiveness Machine via @pcknee
Owl Scarer
And finally, here’s a machine that I am assured has a certain nostalgic resonance for people of a certain age: Wilf Lunn’s Owl Scarer, from the British kids’ TV programme Vision On.
Wilf Lunn is now officially on the “to be interviewed” list.
I also found Wilf Lunn & the own scarer via Peter Barron.
If you know of any other machines that aim to articulate theoretical or conceptual principles in unique and exciting ways, please let me know @aleksk.
