Autograph: Kinetic Sculpture
(Unlikely but Not Impossible) 2013
Chain of Events Exhibition
Manchester Central
Manchester UK 2013
Derived from the Latin autographum, meaning “self-written,” Autograph is conceived as a hybrid, multidimensional entity, an object designed to operate across four dimensions. Like the battery that animates the mechanism of a clock, energy here enables not only the marking of time but also the inscription of time into space. The work thus extends the conventional function of the clock beyond passive measurement, transforming it into an active, spatially mobile recorder of duration.
The production of these unique editions renders the artist conspicuous by his absence and, in so doing, problematises conventional understandings of originality. While prevailing interpretative frameworks often insist upon the inseparability of artist and artwork, these works displace authorial presence, foregrounding instead the interpretative agency of the viewer. Meaning is not secured by the maker but negotiated in reception; the artwork becomes a site in which authorship is simultaneously asserted and deferred.
(Unlikely but Not Impossible) 2013
Chain of Events Exhibition
Manchester Central
Manchester UK 2013
Derived from the Latin autographum, meaning “self-written,” Autograph is conceived as a hybrid, multidimensional entity, an object designed to operate across four dimensions. Like the battery that animates the mechanism of a clock, energy here enables not only the marking of time but also the inscription of time into space. The work thus extends the conventional function of the clock beyond passive measurement, transforming it into an active, spatially mobile recorder of duration.
The production of these unique editions renders the artist conspicuous by his absence and, in so doing, problematises conventional understandings of originality. While prevailing interpretative frameworks often insist upon the inseparability of artist and artwork, these works displace authorial presence, foregrounding instead the interpretative agency of the viewer. Meaning is not secured by the maker but negotiated in reception; the artwork becomes a site in which authorship is simultaneously asserted and deferred.
Released from its customary position on the wall, the clock, the mechanical core or “beating heart” of Autograph, descends into lived space. Its movement is neither linear nor predetermined. Contingencies, collisions, and environmental variables shape the trajectory of its inscriptions. Minor imperfections in its construction introduce subtle variations into its mark-making, imbuing the resulting traces with idiosyncrasy and character. Over time, these inscriptions become legible as records not only of chronological duration but of temperament and circumstance. The writing produced by Autograph thus functions as a temporal index: a material manifestation of lived duration, inscribed through mechanical persistence.
The conceptual lineage of Autograph can be traced to the scientific innovations of the nineteenth century and the Gothic literary imaginaries they inspired. Echoes of figures such as Dmitri Mendeleev, Louis Pasteur, and Marie Curie resonate in its experimental ethos, while affinities with the speculative worlds of Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, and Robert Louis Stevenson inform its quasi-animate presence. The work evokes the aura of a scientific instrument, an artefact that appears at once archaic and futuristic, a curiosity from a speculative chronology. Whether positioned upon a plinth, enclosed within a vitrine, or housed within a Wardian case, it performs a form of suspended animation, enacting a pseudo-life under conditions of display.
The conceptual lineage of Autograph can be traced to the scientific innovations of the nineteenth century and the Gothic literary imaginaries they inspired. Echoes of figures such as Dmitri Mendeleev, Louis Pasteur, and Marie Curie resonate in its experimental ethos, while affinities with the speculative worlds of Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, and Robert Louis Stevenson inform its quasi-animate presence. The work evokes the aura of a scientific instrument, an artefact that appears at once archaic and futuristic, a curiosity from a speculative chronology. Whether positioned upon a plinth, enclosed within a vitrine, or housed within a Wardian case, it performs a form of suspended animation, enacting a pseudo-life under conditions of display.
When activated, Autograph assumes a performative dimension. Its presence draws spectators, and it responds by enacting the very gesture implied by its name: it signs. The act of inscribing photographs of itself both literalises and ironises the notion of the autograph, collapsing distinctions between object, author, and signature. As a prosthetically animated entity, it depends upon its mechanical extensions both for locomotion and for inscription, raising speculative questions concerning agency and desire. If clocks conventionally measure the passage of life, Autograph appears to aspire to live it.
In summary, Autograph interrogates authorship, temporality, and animation through the convergence of mechanism and performance. By relocating the clock from static instrument to ambulatory scribe, the work transforms time from abstract metric into embodied trace. Its inscriptions destabilise the primacy of the artist’s hand, suggesting instead a distributed authorship shared among machine, environment, and viewer. In doing so, Autograph situates originality not in singular authorship but in the unfolding event of time itself, written, quite literally, by the artwork.
In summary, Autograph interrogates authorship, temporality, and animation through the convergence of mechanism and performance. By relocating the clock from static instrument to ambulatory scribe, the work transforms time from abstract metric into embodied trace. Its inscriptions destabilise the primacy of the artist’s hand, suggesting instead a distributed authorship shared among machine, environment, and viewer. In doing so, Autograph situates originality not in singular authorship but in the unfolding event of time itself, written, quite literally, by the artwork.