Margot's Cat

This machine was inspired by watching a computer simulation of a randomly shaped object bouncing on the surface of a slow moving, reciprocating and irregularly shaped piston head with 'gravity' set to that of the moon. Of course anything is possible in the virtual world of the computer.

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The dollhouse chair seems to be the perfect object to bounce nearly weightlessly over the unsuspecting cat. In this machine, the chair is passive and all motion is due to interference by the cat. The large disk at the back serves to both counterbalance the arm and give more mass to the chair itself. The motion of the chair is complex and will never repeat.

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Margot Clark was my wonderful and inspiring art history teacher at the University of New Hampshire. When she passed away she left a houseful of cats.

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This piece is currently on exhibit at the MIT Museum in Cambridge, MA