Kinetic sculpture employing electronics, mechanics, found objects, domestic appliances, furniture, water, living tree, wire, wood, steel, brass, aluminium, stainless steel, electric motors.
Consider Theo Kaccoufa’s objects constructed from old bits of furniture. The chair lying on its back, impotently wagging its legs in the air like an upturned tortoise, is animated in the true sense of the word: it has the presence of a Being. The viewer can empathise with its helpless predicament. At the same time, the spectacle is morbidly funny, and this collision of two normally distinct emotions creates a lingering sense of anxiety.
In the same room is a small bed, and, like the chair, this object gives the impression of human presence. This is not simply due to the ghost, the absent user, that any ergonomically designed object suggests, but rather because of the sense of theatre that the sculpture creates. The edges of a slit in the blanket are peeled back, as if held by a speculum during surgery. This wound or eye-like aperture frames a body of water, exactly in the middle of which is a vortex. The shape of the opening, the damp patch that surrounds the whirlpool, and the slit’s position on the sheet create an unsettling impression of unruly, animal physicality, triumphant, abject, or both.
I remember seeing these kinetic sculptures a few years ago. The small bed sculpture was
really a powerful piece...
I remember seeing these kinetic sculptures a few years ago. The small bed sculpture was
really a powerful piece...
