A Remarkable Example of Equilibrium

[kuruman]

During a recent visit to the Modern Museum of Art in Fort Worth I came across this remarkable sculpture. It appears to be free standing (no strings attached). I assumed it is screwed into the floor and, for obvious reasons, I didn't poke it to see if it will tip over. My thinking is that the center of mass must be really low, inside the animal support, while the stuff above is fluffy and made to appear as high density material. The label of the work informed me thusly:

Erick Swenson
American, born 1972

Untitled, 2000
Mixed media
Gift of Anne and John Marion
Acquired in 2002

 

[Hornbein]

How did they do it without messing up that nice floor? (Rhetorical question.)

 

[Borg]

Maybe it's filled with helium?

 

[kuruman]

Maybe it's filled with helium?

The top is not a bag that can be filled with something. It's a two dimensional convoluted surface like a piece of cloth that has been stiffened into that shape. I should have taken a video going around it. Maybe next time.

 

[kuruman]

Here is the museum burb about this piece and a better picture than mine taken elsewhere. It is interesting to note that the curator who wrote the blurb is concerned about what the piece means and completely neglects to mention the effort that went into static ensuring equilibrium. It appears that the normal force exerted by the floor on the hoof is almost zero as the animal is about to be suspended in mid air. However, we know that the normal force is the weight of the piece, furthermore, that the net torque about the point of contact is zero.

 

[phinds]

Based on just that picture I'm finding it VERY hard to believe that the center of gravity of the piece is in line w/ the hoof.

Maybe if the three upper hoofs are made of metal and the rest is styrofoam.

 

[renormalize]

Based on just that picture I'm finding it VERY hard to believe that the center of gravity of the piece is in line w/ the hoof.

How about a rigid rod through the hoof and leg attached to a plate under the floor? Like this:

 

[kuruman]

Based on just that picture I'm finding it VERY hard to believe that the center of gravity of the piece is in line w/ the hoof.Maybe if the three upper hoofs are made of metal and the rest is styrofoam.

I found the photo below on the web. Maybe this angle is more convincing about the center of gravity? Obviously the piece was moved from the location shown here to the museum floor where I took my photo. I couldn't get this angle because the background was not clean.

And here is another one on the same motif. I find these beautiful.

 

[OmCheeto]

Wow!
I didn't notice anything in the following that I didn't like:

"I'm asking somebody to look at a static object, and drift"
--- Erick Swenson
​

10/10 stars