NJ’s Morris Museum Announces Kinetic Art Exhibition that Features 26 US & Int’l Artists

Timeless Movements is the fourth and final installment of A Cache of Kinetic Art series

Edited By: TJVNews.com

The exhibition, A Cache of Kinetic Art: Timeless Movements, explores broad themes of the human experience and how time manifests in nature through 35 works of kinetic art. Created by 26 artists, these art objects are expressions of measuring, marking, embracing, and resisting time. This is the fourth and final installment of A Cache of Kinetic Art that launched in 2018 with Curious Characters. Timeless Movements will be on view March 18 through August 28, 2022. There will be a Member Preview on Thursday, March 17 that includes an exhibition viewing from 6-7 PM and an artist talk in the Bickford Theatre from 7-8 PM.

“In 2017, the Murtogh D. Guinness Collection staff first envisioned a four-part series, designed to provide exhibition space for artists responding to our challenge to connect contemporary audiences with 19th-century mechanical music, automata, and timekeeping technologies. Since that time, nearly fifty artists have shared their interpretations of ‘art-in-motion,’ embracing a variety of methods and materials,” stated Dr. Anne Ricculli, Curator of the Guinness Collection.

Open to established and emerging artists, this juried exhibition explores a range of artistic talent, inventiveness in design, and a mastery of technique. Timeless Movements bridges the gap between vintage and contemporary kinetic art allowing visitors to experience the creativity of these newly created pieces in conjunction with the Morris Museum’s historic and internationally-significant objects in the Murtogh D. Guinness Collection of Mechanical Musical Instruments and Automata.

Included in the exhibition are 35 works by 26 national and international artists. The selected artists are: Miron Abramovici, Ginger Andro, Lawrence Berzon, David Bowman, Mackenzie Bullard, Ryan Buyssens, Yu Chenrui, Randall Cleaver, Michael Croft, Kyle Dries, Bill Durovchic, Glen Farley, Hao Feng, Chris Fitch, Daniel Fulco, Chuck Glicksman, Joshua Hudak, Bernard Klevickas, Sizhu Li, Bradley N. Litwin, Dina Priess dos Santos, Walter Rossi, Justin Schactman, Glenn W. Smith, Eliza Twichell, and Wade Warman.

A team of esteemed jurists brought their unique perspectives to judging this exhibition: Marion Harris, New York & London, UK: Private antiques dealer and curator; Michael Clerizo, London, UK: Journalist and author on watchmaking, and contributing editor for WSJ, Magazine; and Steven Parker, New York: Jewelry and automata designer/maker and Professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).

Visitors are encouraged to participate in-gallery and on social media to select the winner of the People’s Choice Award. Voting begins on Friday, March 18 and concludes on May 20. The winner will be announced during the Automatacon on Saturday, May 21.

Leadership support for this exhibition is provided by Will and Mary Leland.

 

 Related Public Programing, Events, and Concerts

AutomataCon

The Morris Museum will once again host AutomataCon on May 20-22, 2022, an international convention devoted to automata, drawing enthusiasts from around the world. Visitors will have access to exhibitor tables and presentations including technical workshops and panel discussions. This event is a perfect complement to A Cache of Kinetic Art: Timeless Movements. For complete program access, pre-register at automatacon.org

 

Related Artist Spotlight: Sandra Meigs

Concurrent with this exhibition, artist Sandra Meigs presents a special installation, The Glass Ticker that will be on view March 18 – August 28, 2022. Using 3D printing technology, Meigs created twin figures that harken back to an experience inspired by her own encounter with an automaton crafted in The Netherlands during the 1930s. Positioned in Dutch window-shops during the inter-war period, mechanical models beckoned to young and old alike, drawing attention to the treats and toys offered for sale. Meigs’ installation is activated by visitor movement, where the pair of normally dormant child-sized automata engage the visitor by tapping on the glass storefront windows that make up their display case.

 

 Britton-Rene Collins: On Time

Sunday, May 15 at 2 PM

A world premiere percussion event featuring award-winning virtuoso, Britton-Rene Collins. Collins has been commissioned to compose a new work on the theme of time which she will perform in a program of other solo percussion works.

 

 Rhythm Method: On Time

Sunday, May 29 at 2 PM

Brooklyn based string quartet The Rhythm Method returns to the Morris Museum after their debut during the 2021 season of Lot of Strings with a multifaceted program exploring themes of time. This musical journey literally takes the audience through time and space; beginning outside of the Bickford Theatre with Steve Reich’s Pendulum Music, equal parts sculpture and composition, and continues in the theatre with works by Marina Kifferstein, Paul Pinto, and the world premiere of a Live Arts commission by local composer, Kailyn Williams.

 

About the Morris Museum

Founded in 1913, the Morris Museum is an award-winning, multifaceted arts and cultural institution serving the public through its exhibitions and performances, which strive to interpret the past and discover the future through art, sound, and motion. The Museum is home to the historic and internationally-significant Murtogh D. Guinness Collection of Mechanical Musical Instruments and Automata. The Museum’s Bickford Theatre is a 312-seat performing-arts facility, offering unique programming in film, jazz, and live performance through its innovative series, Live Arts. As New Jersey’s only Smithsonian Affiliate, Morris Museum launched Spark!Lab, a dynamic, Smithsonian-created learning space which will inspire young visitors to create, collaborate, and innovate.