A collaboration between Science Projects Ltd and Cabaret Mechanical Theatre, Mechanics Alive! is a joyful interactive exhibition of comical, beautifully made automata that will give fun and knowledge to old and young alike.
The aim of this witty combination of art and science is to inspire visitors to help them understand the basic mechanisms involved in how the automata work. The figures are each busy with a zany activity, enhanced by a funny title and underpinned by an interactive board allowing you to play and understand the relevant mechanical principle involved. Drives, pulleys, ratchets and levers that make these machines work, underpin our lives in so many ways.
Exhibits include: The Sheep Shearing Man by Ron Fuller: based on the principle of levers, a luckless man rises and falls, on every tenth turn of the handle the vindictive sheep appears to chop off his head with shears.
The Barecats by Paul Spooner and Matt Smith: as the little cat points, the big cat looks up, so who is driving whom? Enjoy the man wearing striped trunks and white cap learning How to Swim - not in a pool but on a high stool.
For the contemporary The Birth of Fast Food (entitled Pegasus) by Keith Newstead uses a crank slider to move the gallant steed while linkages of strings and wires move levers to make the wings and legs go up and down.
