kinetic machine with hair caught in it explores the chaos and anxiety of our reality

aiming to express the anxiety and chaos that come from a twisted reality, korean art tandem UJOO+LIMNEEYOUNG’s project began with a question ‘can we actually achieve happiness in the happening irrationality?’. as the image of people trapped in the routine of today’s life evokes — as the artists say — feelings of frustration and ineffable lethargy, they duo sought to pose fundamental questions about a reality possessing something more essential. the kinetic sculpture ‘machine with hair caught in it’ is assembled of multiple rotating gearwheels representing the reality, and hair stuck in it, playing the role of the people.

‘machine with hair caught in it’, 2015
there is a repeated motion of hair twisting and untwisting with gears rotating in different directions

‘the reality right now is like an incomprehensible dream,’ explain the artists. ‘unfortunately, it’s not one of those freaky dreams you have for a few nights and are done with. the chaos emerging from the gap between the ideal and real has lost any sense of humanity.’

‘by expressing the fear and confusion that come from living in a twisted, incomprehensible dream of a reality, we are trying to emphasize the need to fundamentally re-examine a reality possessed of something more essential,’ duo continues. ‘asking questions and giving constant thought to what the essential is, we hope to examine where we stand now, offering an opportunity to fix our current situation and understand what we need to do.’

‘machine with hair caught in it’, 2017

another work of the artists — ‘homo capitalicus’, 2016
in this work, a cement block is constantly rotated like a rolling head through the interlocking movements of gearwheels filled with hair

‘bird’, 2018 
this work rotates with strands of hair twisted around a motor with a cement block mounted on it — as the hair turns fast, it brushes against the cement, producing a sound like a bird’s wings flapping

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: maria erman | designboom