Arts Technology& Culture: Reuben Margolin and Kinetic Sculpture

Reuben Margolin, a longtime Bay Area maker, creates kinetic wave sculptures that combine the logic of math with the sensuousness of nature. First inspired by the mysterious and mathematical qualities of a caterpillar's crawl, Margolin began capturing the complex movements and structures of nature in sculptural form. His sculptures, which use a diverse range of materials, from cardboard to tungsten and from found to precision machined, undulate, spiral, bob, and dip in gloriously natural-seeming ways, driven by arrays of pulleys, motors, cogs and gears. Focusing on natural elements, his work is both elegant and hypnotic.