Leonardo

Joseph A. Burns and Judith Klein Burns, "Kinetic Art: A Mural ofVariablv Stressed Photoelastic Material with Light Pol~rizers",6, No.4, 325-327 (1973); S..J. Edwards and A..J. Langley, "On Producing Colours Using Birefringence Property of Transparent Colourless Stretched Cellophane", 14, No.3, IH7-190 (1981); Albert Friscia, "The Kinetichrorne and Its Use of Polarized Light", 21, No.2, 145-149 (l9H8); Carlos Martinola and Nahum joel. "The 'Chromatic Abstractoscope': An Application of Polarized Light", I, No.2, 171173 (l9fiH). SPECIMEN UI2 (THE AMERICAN RAT RACE) Nancy Worthington (with Judith Fein), P. O. Box 2558, Sebastopol, CA 95473, U.S.A. Received /2 March /990. Acceptedfor publication by Roger F. Malina. Specimen U/2 (The American Rat Race) (Fig. 10) is an installation consisting of three pieces: a mixed-media, freestanding kinetic construction/assemblage and two wall pieces [I ]. The sculptural segment contains a cage mounted on an exercise track. A constructed wind-up humanoid crawling 86 Abstracts creature resides inside the lighted silver cage to which the creature is tethered by a long wire, Instructions are provided on the cage so that the viewer/participant can take the humanoid out of its cage and exercise it by having it crawl laboriously up the track. The right-hand side of the cage contains a black box that, when operated by means of a pull-cord, rewards the viewer/participant with success-oriented messages delivered by a disembodied mechanical voice. In the wall section, two large display racks are headlined with a sign that reads 'Ohio Man Discovers the Secret of How to Escape the American Rate Race', and the racks are covered with repetitious signs and images of business success and 'rats on the move'. I utilize kinetic art as well as light and sound to bring sculptures to life and to help people get involved. These forms of communication entice people to interact physically and intellectually with the art, which then can lead to emotional and spiritual involvement . I place my visual images on a tightrope between comedy and tragedy. In my art, I achieve a balance between thought carried to its ultimate extreme in comic absurdity, and feeling at its most intense level in tragic consequence . A vital part of my art exists in the exposure I give to the ambiguities , inconsistencies, polarities and dualities of the human condition, of social and psychological entrapment. Mv constructions/assemblages, many of which are kinetic, incorporating light and sound, range from life-sized to intimate in scale. The images become a catalyst to awaken consciousness and not necessarily to deposit meaning. It is my sense of hope for the future that makes me want to facilitate change through awareness for a better, more humane world, I see my art as reaching out to be a connecting point for awareness. Reference 1. (;ala[oKi) (:,pml. «xh. car.. l xth Bicnal lute-rnational cit:' Sao Paulov-l Ollttlhro--lT') De-cembro. MlL'\CO dt- Artc Mode-rna dc s..~o Paulo (sao Paulo, Brazil: Fundacao Bicnal de Sao Paulo, 19H.:j). ...