The BMW Museum's kinetic sculpture takes your brain to another dimension
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Jul 6th 2008 3:04AM
posted Jul 6th 2008 3:04AM
[Via BMWCCA]
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powerful magnets and computers or fishing line and grey beads?
They're suspended on strings, clearly. You can see them in the photo.
If you would have checked the video, you would have clearly seen the wires holding the beads up.
But then you would not have had your first post I guess.
i was making a point that its not a big deal to have balls hanging on strings moving up and down. use some magnets and computers to control metal balls and it'll be really interresting. man people here are quick to shoot someone down. i guess people like you could never confront someone in real life.
Check out the video around 2:10 .. you'll see them.
1 - Re-read your initial post and consider it from someone else's point of view who does not know the rest of the thoughts in your head. See the question mark at the end? That means that you are asking which method was used.
1 - Learn how to use the shift key. Lazy implies a lack of intelligence.
3 - "i guess people like you could never confront someone in real life." A childish response and Irrelevant in this context. If you are unable to cope with non-complimentary responses then don't post.
wow you guys are intense.
@Paul, Re-read your post, your second point about intelligence has a hilarious error.
Uhh.. it's just a comment Paul.
and maybe he doesnt want to use the shift key its not like we're typing an essay
Really cool display BMW.
@ Paul
As Tom pointed out......BEST COMMENT EVER!
Giving someone shit and then screwing up yourself! Priceless!!
Maybe he just wants to make 2 important points but he just can't rank them, but the 3rd point is not so important, enough to get a ranking of 2. Where you see an idiot...I see brilliance.
I see two idiots now.
its as easy as 1 1 3
The numbers refer to the posts, not to the order of the comments.
Yeah......cuz that's obvious!
Paul,
Your name is a noun, is it not? You should try capitalizing the P...
Internet:
SERIOUS BUSINESS.
Awww man I had my hopes up there for a while. Damn.
Paul
"Lazy implies a lack of intelligence"
Non sequitur logical fallacy. Your conclusion is based on a false premise that laziness is related to intelligence. If you look at the contraposition, negating the terms and stating the reciprocal, your statement reads "intelligent implies not lazy". That clearly makes no sense because it is possible to be intelligent AND lazy.
@Paul
Face!
No actually its Magneto holding the metal beads up...duh!!!
Ahh... another example of a completely irrelevant sequence of replies.
HEY EURAKARTE
INSULT
RETORT
COUNTER-RETORT
QUESTIONING OF SEXUAL PREFERENCE
SUGGESTION TO SHUT THE FUCK UP
NOTATION THAT YOU CREATE A VACUUM
RIPOSTE
ADDON RIPOSTE
COUNTER-RIPOSTE
COUNTER-COUNTER RIPOSTE
NONSENSICAL STATEMENT INVOLVING PLANKTON
RESPONSE TO RANDOM STATEMENT AND THREAT TO BAN OPPOSING SIDES
WORDS OF PRAISE FOR FISHFOOD
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND ACCEPTENCE OF TERMS
I guess that is one way of distracting us from high petrol prices.
Energy is expensive. Get over it.
indeed it's calming, i think i can sit there the whole day and watch
The Sun gives me free energy every day.
we get all of our energy from the sun
ShaunAlfonso: the politics that limit/prevent us from acquiring energy freely _make_it_ expensive, the material and the extracation of it is relatively cheap.
Example: A gallon of milk produced locally costs about $3.50, a gallon of gas extracted/processed/shipped/refined/delivered from a 3rd world war-torn instable part of the planet to my back yard costs $4.00. Think how much that milk would be if politicians said "oh, it's illegal for you to get that domestically, it must be imported from the most socially unstable and politically volatile areas of the planet".
Ex2. see all the "Petrol has cost us the equiv of $8US in Europe for the past 2 decades!" posts everytime Americans complain about gas increases in the states - what the Euros don't realize (astoundingly) is that they pay massive higher amounts due to taxes, not because of the cost of the resource. But then, that's how semi-/pseudo-/and real socialist countries work...
Enjoy.
lol that's what i was thinking,
they try to distract us from their incompetence to produce gas free cars.
to notYou:
im European (with pride), and pay for ultra-expensive petrol.. but what can i do? my coutry has taxes so high that, most of the stuff that sells for one price in other european countries, sells 30% more in mine..
the one thing i can do is to watch you american cry-babies that complain about the price of the fuel (that is much lower than in post parts of the planet), about the inexistence of free healthcare and about the whole coutry stupidity.. and after watching this i laugh.. which is good, as the main purpose of your coutry is to entertain people
if you take a moment to think, you'll see that the european cars run on much less fuel than american ones.. when we look at the engine sizes and mpg of your cars, we just freak out.. but we say: oh, why would the americans buy economic cars? they don't care about the planet. they're mostly just dumb people who just like to complain for everything.. wha wha wha
i just can't believe how the smart people can live there.. i guess they don't know any better
now come tell me about how countries work
grrr
I think I'll show this to my lady when I try to put the moves on her tonight. Oh yeah.
Nothing like low res youtube videos to set the mood.
works for xtube...
This sounds like porno music...
Your lady would find that video hot... Must have your balls on a string...
@Gadgetman: not up on a string... just waving around in the air... rhythmically.
I know you didn't want to imagine that. It's called aversion therapy.
I should have paid more attention to "undulating orbs that APPEAR to float in air", I almost thought they were suspended magnetically until my dreams were shattered at about 2:11 or so.
Still looks really cool not worth the flight to Munich though lol
ART+COM
http://www.artcom.de/index.php?lang=en&option=com_acstartseite&Itemid=110
That's incredible! The end of the video is the best part when they form the shape of a car... I wonder who the artist is who designed it
It looks like a Z4 to me, or were you asking who designed the entire suspended balls apparatus?
the Z4 was designed by chris bangle. i dont know the genius that designed this
the sculpture looks like it must be by Elias Crespin.
If people think synchronizing about a thousand stepper motors to create 3-d forms is non-trivial, maybe they ought to give it a shot.
This is brilliant. BMW has such a clear understanding of their brand, and what it entails, that it seems effortless.
Now if they could only reclaim that distinctive BMW look instead of appearing to be a Toyota Camry. Their cars just don't stand out like they used to (in my opinion).
Love the 80s porn movie music
Interesting fact: 80's porn music is also the basis for the soundtrack of "How It's Made"
I wouldn't know. I've never seen "How It's Made".
can't wait to visit the museum...
BMW Owners - check in!
330ci
fail
Why not?
325i
Succeed
do motorcycles count?
F800S here
I'll bite - 525ti
E46 -01 M3
335i 2007
suckers!
Audi 4 life!
:P
"Recently opened"? I visited the BMW museum in Munich in 1988. Suppose "recent" is relative.
It was closed for renovation in 2004 and recently (June 21st) reopened. I suspect your experience from 1988 will differ from those of today.
easy on the eyes, horrific on the ears.
And now my eyes are trippin.
Like after 12 hours of Guitar Hero.
this is why i own a bmw =]
2007 z4 roadster :P
Why cant the man be proud of his car. Geez, you guys low ranking him are a bunch of losers.
Because he set off the cockometer :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7_bGJpsY4s
Actually on the newest episode of Top Gear, they have labeled BMW's cool. The "cocks" that drove BMW have now moved to Audi, so now Audi drivers are "cocks" and are uncool.
when you buy a convertible, you betray men everywhere.
performance > looking cool (or so you think)
lol oh my bad haha i believe the girls love it when the tops down =]
with me crusin cali beaches all day
then again i could always close the top and rape you in 6th gear ?!?1
impossible to appreciatte with the 'soft porn' soundtrack, it ended up just looking like some show off sequence in a 90's verhoven movie.
it's the dividing line between a piece of art and a piece of engineering really, had the clip a more minimalist, modern and overtly electronic soundtrack, as opposed to the shitty synth keys only ever found in early 90's m.o.r. shit like whitney houston and micheal bolton etc, it might have at least made me think "oh cool" but instead it it just made me feel like i had left the german channel on past midnight.
Kenny G was unavailable. Give them some credit!
;)
Dear Investors,
BMW has invested 300 billion Deutsche Marks on alternative fuels, and as you can see in this display, we have high hopes for BMW's continued dominance of the prestige auto industry well into the future...
...a greener, brighter future.
...ohhh, errmmm, uhmmm...
Look at our competence with balls-on-strings!
Deutsche Mark? Was ist das?
Euros. But management is oldskool!
Well, the music reminded me of a good old pr0n from the 80s. Nicely done!
i enjoyed the music.. it soothed my ears
and even though the balls werent magneticall suspended, but used strings, it was really impressive anyway
I was just going to say; hate the music, cheap synthesizer set to option 1 to save a penny, lets down the whole thing 100% (not that it's that great to start with IMHO).
possible christmas tree future
It's not gay, the balls are not touching.
Innovation maybe but not so High Tech..
If this is what BMW can offer in 3D technology in the year 2008 well..
The only thing I can say in that case is that I am disappointed.
Anybody check out the new 7 series yet???......Its awesome!
BMW's make very high end crap. Sorry, but I would just never buy one. I love people who buy old BMW's that can't afford to repair them. Man I love luxury junkers. It's a hobby of mine, watching for those. BMW's are top but I do love a good piece of crap Jag too.
I have a hobby, too: clicking the little red minus at the top right of posts like yours. There, done!
"the last time I saw this many balls hanging . . . ", there's a joke in there for sure
....I was in the locker room on senior day at the YMCA
You guys complaining that this isn't done with magnets, exactly how would anyone do that? I mean, I can see suspending a bunch of metal balls in the air with magnets but controlling them to the point you could create precise and interesting shapes? I guess if you could pull that off it might be wasted on a simple sculpture.
Dangling balls at the ends of wires, and reeling them vertically with stepper motors does not make this in any way "kinetic". The balls do not interact with one another, and the only use gravity has is keeping the wires taught. Any energy generated by the motion of the balls in their vertical travels is dampened by the motors which drive them.
kinetic also means something that moves though.... maybe its just used in that sense. What else would you call it? just a moving art piece?
OMG the music almost made me shoot my brains out.
A car with balls of steel
to make up for the ones that the prick driving it lacks.
@Tom great post.
@Paul... great post, two!
To all those who think this is anything short of impressive, please try and remember that each of the spheres in this installation is most likely driven by a servo motor with a spool of line attached to it. That works out to what appears to be over ten thousand motors, all tightly coordinated to follow smoothly controlled signal profiles. I see many people every day on the roadway who seem to have difficulty coordinating two or three signal profiles (steering, accelerator, and sometimes cell phone). Show a little respect to the engineering and creativity involved in this display.
I gotta get a hold of a soundtrack like that. Very soothing.
SOOOOO FREAKING BOOOORING
@chris joseph: "Kinetic Art" is a term of art: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_art
And the thing that impressed me about this is the fact that they managed to control the inherent elasticity of monofilament, in both the horizontal and vertical directions. I'm surprised that the balls don't bounce at the top or bottom of their travel and that they're not vibrating from side to side. A regular servo motor would in all likelihood create significant horizontal motion due to deflection of the motor shaft, especially if the line is taught to reduce vertical bounce. My guess is there is a separate damping mechanism at work here. An impressive bit of engineering, whatever you think of BMW.
I can't be the only physics nerd in here that wants to use this to display complex three-dimensional graphs, can I?
you very well could be
i dont get how it works though
should prollly watch more than 5 seconds of the video.......
"pay close attention. de do de do de do de do DEE do de do de do de do"
...no one got the reference?
sad.
low ranked?
maybe folks don't get your reference to the reference...
or there are some Prodigy haters afoot
word.