The art installation is a fine way of exploring new applications and technologies, dovetailing performance with design. Over the past few decades, the Swiss artist Zimoun has built a number of large-scale installations, often in close collaboration with architects and engineers. Best known for works that repurpose prosaic materials like cardboard and cotton in orderly patterns, the artist sets his constructions in motion with specially designed compact DC motors, the actions of which create esoteric noises.
Zimoun's latest project in Dottikon, Switzerland, was developed with the architect Hannes Zweifel, a longtime collaborator. Inside a vast 1950s storage tank once used to house the industrial solvent toluene, they rigged up a system of 329 tiny motors with wires connected to 329 cotton balls. The motors cause the balls to jiggle, twitch and bounce off the surface of the tank. The result is a hypnotic loop of noise reverberating around the white space.
The 13m tank stands on the edge of a chemical plant in town, its industrial exterior giving no hint to the activity - and cacophany - within. There are no official opening hours, though spectators are welcome during working hours.
The 13m tank stands on the edge of a chemical plant, its industrial exterior giving no hint to the activity within
Inside, he and architect Hannes Zweifel rigged up a system of 329 tiny motors with wires connected to 329 cotton balls
The motors cause the balls to jiggle, twitch and bounce off the surface of the tank. Watch the video to see the installation in full swing
The result is a hypnotic loop of noise reverberating around the white space
The friction between household material and industrial surface creates an esoteric noise
The materials are applied in orderly patterns that make visual sense of the cacophony
-
Explore 100 years of Svenskt Tenn and the interiors Estrid Ericson has crafted‘A Philosophy of Home’ explores 100 years of Svenskt Tenn and the daring vision for interiors its founder Estrid Ericson developed
-
Ora ïto runs rings around a Vacheron Constantin limited-edition watchThe Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Yellow Gold Limited Edition watch epitomises the French designer's clean style
-
Gardens & Villas offers the unexpected through ‘deconstructed’ desert living in CaliforniaGardens & Villas, a home in Las Quintas, California, brings contemporary luxury to its desert setting through a collaboration between architects Andrew McClure and Christopher McLean
-
‘Happy birthday Louise Parker II’: enter the world of Roe EthridgeRoe Ethridge speaks of his concurrent Gagosian exhibitions, in Gstaad and London, touching on his fugue approach to photography, fridge doors, and his longstanding collaborator Louise Parker
-
What to see at Art Basel 2024, as the fair arrives at its hometownArt Basel 2024, the fair of all fairs, runs 13-16 June, with 285 international exhibitors and a long list of side shows and projects
-
Dan Flavin’s fluorescent lights light up Basel‘Dedications in Lights’ celebrates Dan Flavin’s conceptual works, at Kunstmuseum Basel
-
Space for My Body: Anu Põder’s retrospective opens in SwitzerlandEstonian artist Anu Põder is celebrated by Switzerland’s Muzeum Susch in an exhibition curated by Cecilia Alemani
-
Bally Foundation’s new Lake Lugano headquarters is an art-filled paradiseThe Bally Foundation inaugurates its new headquarters in a 1930s villa overlooking the majestic Lake Lugano, Switzerland with the group show ‘Un Lac Inconnu’ (An Unknown Lake)
-
Supergraphics pioneer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon: ‘Sure, make things big – anything is possible'94-year-old graphic designer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon talks radical typography, motherhood, and her cool welcome for St Moritz
-
Fluffy bunnies meet office politics in Nicolas Haeni’s photo seriesTo mark the Year of the Rabbit, we return down the rabbit hole of Swiss photographer Nicolas Haeni’s photography series, where mischievous bunnies infiltrate the humdrum of corporate life
-
The most surreal moments in Art Basel history, from taped bananas to wealth-ranking ATMsAs a wealth-ranking ATM stole hearts and headlines at Art Basel Miami 2022, we look back on the most controversial moments in the history of Art Basel
