Len Lye
Universe
Artwork Detail
The 6.7 metre steel band of Universe is softened and
manipulated by electromagnets hidden in the sculpture’s base. In motion, this work is as much a musical instrument as a sculpture. Len Lye was a pioneer of boundary-crossing Kinetic art and hand-drawn animated films who spent most of his life
in New York. Lye’s own restless energy was matched by his experiments with ‘art that moves’. Universe’s vibrations evoke planetary orbits and dancing electrons, telescoping macro and micro together into a ‘figure of motion’.
- Title
- Universe
- Artist/creator
- Production date
- 1963
- Medium
- steel, wood, electromagnets
- Dimensions
- 2090 x 2700 x 280 mm
- Credit line
- Edmiston Trust Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 1995
- Accession no
- E1995/43
- Copyright
- Copying restrictions apply
- Department
- New Zealand Art
- Display status
- Not on display
If you’re interested in reproducing this artwork, you can enquire here.