17.3.12

Metropolis II Kinetic Sculpture


Metropolis II, a kinetic sculpture created by Chris Burden, is currently showing at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

Steel beams form an eclectic grid interwoven with an elaborate system of 18 roadways, including one 6 lane freeway, and HO scale train tracks… According to Burden, “The noise, the continuous flow of the trains, and the speeding toy cars, produces in the viewer the stress of living in a dynamic, active and bustling 21st Century city.”

LACMA’s blog gives some detail : 

- The cars are attached by a small magnet to the conveyor belt that brings 
   them to the crest. 

- The only motorization of the cars is the conveyor belt to the top. 

- Once the cars cross over the crest and head downward, their entire 
  movement is by gravity. 

- They travel at a scale speed of 240 mph, plus or minus. 

- The tracks they take are Teflon coated to reduce friction. 

- The trains are out of the box electric train sets that run on electricity.

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