A pair of goldfish come to life in the Curious Contraptions exhibition, which runs until October 27. Photo / Supplied
An array of pāua shells lights up in brilliant green. A dinghy crew rows vigorously through rough seas. A man eats spaghetti in the bath.
They perform the same action again and again, just three among dozens of little gadgets and gizmos now on display at Te Manawa in Curious
Contraptions, a new, highly animated exhibition.
The name for all these machines is "automata". The museum was preparing an exhibition from English-based automata artisans Cabaret Mechanical Theatre, when programme developer Gary Collins discovered the work of Blair Somerville, a maker from Southland. Now Curious Contraptions features his work too.
"Blair is driven by a sort of upcycling ethos, where he'll walk along the beach and collect things, so he's always got stuff to make stuff from," Collins says.
"He'll put milk bottle tops into a sandwich press to make plastic sheets, which he can use as a colour filter for LEDs."
