The book discussion veered a bit off, without getting too excited. Each of us has an idiosyncratic understanding of Alexander owns writings, which seem to reflect a bit in which phase of the process we are.
I enjoyed the hands-on sessions a lot, although I still don't register too much with my hands. I stand less in my way, though, and my arms certainly move lots easier than during my first explorations. I noticed in Libby's group how much I got used to a specific relation of my hands, playing around with different ways gave me plenty of new insights.
At home, I stumbled across a new idea for a sculpture, a tensegrity icosahedron. It is symmetrical, and stackable (I will have to try this for myself....). I found different examples on the web, and experimented with different methods to assemble the structure. I started off with rubber bands in a variety of configurations, and lots of them got destroyed in the process. At some point it looked like I succeeded...
I managed to tune the model to give it more depth, and nearly collapsed it in the process. I fixed it, and thought about the right length for nylon cords. I had to take care not too overstretch any rubber, which happened just two or three times.
After experimenting with 40cm and 50cm loops, having models collapsing over and over, I prepared 45cm loops, got some unused rubber rings and started over again. Once all nylon cords were attached, I cut the rubber away, and, hooray!, I had a stable model in my hands!
I wanted to stand the model on only two legs, and used magnetic repulsion to keep it balanced. It can swing a few millimeters, blowing against the struts suffices to get it moving for just under a minute or so.
2 comments:
Nice! A good way to make tensegrity icosahedrons (actually a contracting icosahedron) that are stable and show the true helical contractions and expansion Of the model. Alexander used the icosahedron a lot, but he did not know about a tensegrity version, (not yet 'discovered' by Snelson & Fuller). If he did, I am sure he would have recognized it as the model that best exemplifies body movement. I use it as the “finite element” in biologic structural evolution. Steve http://www.biotensegrity.com
Thanks, Steve, I took a lot of inspiration from your site :) I wasn't aware that Alexander used an icosahedron as well, so far I thought he snubbed anatomy and body mechanics a bit...
With very tight cords the model can contract and expand nicely (without falling apart) - now I need to arrange to run a presentation/ group class to make tensegrity a bit more 'hands on'.
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