Designer Echo Yang transformed a Walkman tape player, a hand-crank alarm clock, and other obsolete devices into autonomous art-making machines for her project “Autonomous Machines.” For each device, Yang repurposed a moving part, adding brushes, dabs of paint, or other art materials. The devices were then switched on and allowed to create curious abstract designs with little or no human help. The project is Yang’s analog response to digital generative art:
The current popularity of generative design processes in which designers use algorithms to create a variety of different outcomes, instead of focussing on one, definitive result is closely linked to the use of digital design tools. This development has changed our perception of design as the creation of the single author. What could happen when the approach fostered by digital generative designers would be applied to ananalogue world? A world in which obsolete machines like hand-powered alarm clocks, walkman and mechanical toys take centre stage?
photos via Echo Yang