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March 10, 2005 9:08 AM

How does this work?

I saw a similar piece recently in person, and the explanatory note said that the materials were "Pins held together by friction and gravity."

posted by ~rschram to media & arts (15 comments total)

Probably a mix of compression and tensile strength. Think bicycle spokes or the crossbeam of a bridge.
posted by AlexReynolds at 9:18 AM on March 10, 2005

Glue of some sort, spraymount or PVA.

Alternatively patience of a gargantuan level.
posted by gaby at 9:20 AM on March 10, 2005

This page says it's "four foot square pile of toothpicks held together by friction" and this one has a picture of her pushing toothpicks into a large wooden box.
posted by milkrate at 9:20 AM on March 10, 2005

This page...

Make the mould then pack it down, much like building a sandcastle?
posted by gaby at 9:22 AM on March 10, 2005

I'm bumfoozled.

Compression and tensile strength? But they're not really compressed by anything. (No bridge on top of spanning members, no wheel around the spokes.)

Glue? But it says "held together by friction". Glue doesn't fall into this catergory. Does it?

Mould, yes. Packing it down? Why don't they all fall away from the sides?

If it weren't for the "held together by friction bit", I'd say that she did one side at a time, packing them down and then spraying the surface with some sort of adhesive.

Wha? Buh? Guh?
posted by Specklet at 10:36 AM on March 10, 2005

It looks like many did fall away from the sides.
posted by rafter at 10:43 AM on March 10, 2005

I think that's a deliberate part of the sculpture.
posted by Specklet at 10:53 AM on March 10, 2005

But they're not really compressed by anything. (No bridge on top of spanning members, no wheel around the spokes.)

If they are interlinked, there is tension from where the picks overlap, which results from the casting.

It's not unheard of. Gurus would stab their fists into jars of rice, and then pick up the jar with their fist, without their fist touching the jar edge. Rice reformed around the hand to provide enough support to pick up the entire jar.
posted by AlexReynolds at 11:43 AM on March 10, 2005

I still don't get it. Interlinked how? They just seemed layered, and not particularly pressed into a toothpick aggregate... I don't usually think of myself as an obtuse person, but I just can't wrap my brain around this one.

I can kind of understand the rice thing, though. Although I don't think you'd have to have any mystical powers in order to do that; seems like enough practice and you'd get the knack. (And if you do need mystical powers, are you saying that these are mystical toothpicks?)



Incidentally, a guru is a "a personal religious teacher and spiritual guide in Hinduism" (see Websters). I'm not trying to be snotty, it's just a pet peeve of mine. I think the type of person you're thinking of is a yogi, one who practices yoga ("a Hindu theistic philosophy teaching the suppression of all activity of body, mind, and will in order that the self may realize its distinction from them and attain liberation") or is simply "a markedly reflective or mystical person".
posted by Specklet at 12:00 PM on March 10, 2005

I figure they were poured into a wooden box, vibrated to compact them, then the box was taken apart. They are compressed and held by their own weight and their random orientations. For philosophical reasons, I don't think glue was used. Allowing art to decay and viewers to interact can be very cool. I imagine many people have removed toothpicks out of curiosity. The notion of converting something insignificant into something large and mysterious is also cool. You can project all sorts of nifty interpretations onto this piece. Think "society", or "ecology".
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 12:22 PM on March 10, 2005

I recently tried to compact some toothpicks into a neater pile, it was very difficult, they just get in each others way, have friction, and make it hard to move each other. I have absolutely no difficultying believing these were just poured into a cube, vibrated to compact, then the four sides taken apart leaving the cube of toothpicks. Toothpicks are like that. :-)

Kudos to the artist.
posted by -harlequin- at 1:36 PM on March 10, 2005

Okay, I got it now. Vibrated to compact them further or simply packed into a box, I get it. Friction. Der.
posted by Specklet at 1:43 PM on March 10, 2005

It would be so incredibly embarassing to pick at the sculpture and accidently remove the "keystone" toothpick, causing the entire thing to collapse 'round one's feet...
posted by five fresh fish at 5:18 PM on March 10, 2005

It would be even funnier to engineer this to happen via remote control when someone removes a toothpick. You could probably get a turnaround time of, say ten minutes, to pack another bail, set it up for the next victim, and cue the video camera.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:03 PM on March 10, 2005

Weapons: I LOVE that as a piece! Whether a candid camera thing or an active art piece in a gallery, its wonderful.

I also love the toothpics as they are. Thanks for the question.
posted by Goofyy at 10:36 PM on March 10, 2005