Christoph von Rohden

Moving matter; material – maker relationship and kinetic sculpture

My graduation project is about kinetic sculpture and our relation to the world of materials.                    Moving matter: that is what I do when I am working in the workshop. I interact with physical matter, changing its shape, properties, and dimensions. But my body is moving matter as well. The steel I am working with makes me move, it makes me react to its qualities and behavior. The idea that the matter around us is shaped by me as well as it shapes me leads to a different relation with the world, we live in. It makes me question my perception of the world of materials as something dead and static, separate from us as humans. I want to investigate this question in my work, in the process as well as in the objects. I will explore if I can perceive the matter I work with as sensitive, delicate, and alive. For that reason, I work with kinetic sculpture, moving matter.

See video on Dancing Devices from Christoph von Rohden