1.2 Fast Rewind: Rowland Emett
Rowland Emett designed the “The Honeywell-Emett Forget-me-not Computer”. This is a mechanical automated computer.
Interesting about this computer is the visibility of how the different parts work together. The parts are recognizable, he used for example a wheel, brick, lampshade, can, playing cards, etc. Most parts effects and interacts smoothly with the other elements.
The artwork is still interesting nowadays. It can be seen as a surrealistic kind of artwork. Rowland Emett merged different objects together which resulted in surprising combinations.
In certain cases, the merged objects resulted in a recognizable object. For instance, the elephant which is created out of a hose, horn and a lot more parts. There is a lot going on in the artwork so it will take some time before you have seen everything.
The Honeywell-Emett inspires to make art movable and interactable with other parts inside the artwork. Although a lot of work nowadays is focussed to interact with the users, it is also nice to observe the artwork and think about it without the need to interact with it. You can see all the mechanisms of the computer which are nowadays mostly hidden.
Beside this, it is inspiring to see how several not related elements can be merged together to create an artwork. The Honeywell-Emett reminds me of an artwork at the Verbeke Foundation, where a ship was created by all existing materials. The big difference between both artworks is the technology which creates the movements (see the ship artwork of the Verbeke Foundation in the picture below).
