Bowed - 29 Weeks (2015)

Kinetic sculpture: brass, plastic, electric motor,
pencils, electronic components; variable dimensions approx 150 × 150 × 18 cm

Bowed is a work about maintenance and collaboration. Once triggered, the mechanism draws a line, a complete circle, on the set spot of the graphite. A manual intervention is needed to put a different distance of the graphite about the centre for each consequent new drawing – a new circle. The work was created for the project UTTER in the Pavilion of Slovenia at the 56th Venice Biennial in 2015. Throughout the biennial, JAŠA and his team enacted a daily performance – 6 days a week, 29 weeks in a row. The beginning of each day was marked by the gesture of manually turning the hand of Bowed, one circle for each of the 180 days, thus tracking the continued presence through maintenance work and poetic endurance.

Credits:
Photo: Damjan Švarc
Construction of mechanical elements: France Petač
Electrical engineering: Otto Urpelainen