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Works register

The Quiet Machine

Object / YearW–007 / 2023
ClassificationMechanical sculpture
MaterialBlued steel, aluminium, reduction drive
Dimensions1100 × 760 × 1600 mm
A blued steel mechanism in a pool of cool light

A machine that performs one precise movement with no useful outcome.

A reduction drive turns a folded aluminium arm once every forty-three minutes. Its endpoint presses lightly against a sprung steel surface, releases it, and begins again.

The movement is deliberately over-engineered. Backlash, vibration and sound were treated as sculptural materials until the remaining action felt inevitable rather than automated.

  • F–01Cycle: 43 min 12 sec
  • F–02Sound pressure at 1 m: < 24 dBA
  • F–03Service access through rear datum plate
Next object / W–041Tension Study No. 04