Michael Candy

Born in Durban (South Africa) in 1990, Michael Candy currently lives and works on the Gold Coast in Queensland. Having studied fine art and industrial design, Candy breaks down everyday machines and devices to re-build them as kinetic sculpture. He describes his approach towards robotics and technology as “instinctive engineering”, an intuitive method of construction and design.

Kinetic art is a term used to describe works of art that move, have moving parts or can be perceived to be in motion. In Western art history, kinetic art traces back to the early twentieth-century. As modern modes of transport such as cars, trains and aeroplanes were invented, artists strived to reflect the changing world around them. In particular, they wanted their art to capture concepts of speed, movement and time. Candy’s sculptures echo these sentiments. His art makes use of twenty-first century technologies, software and hardware that is now essential to navigating our daily lives.

Big dipper (2014-19)

Michael Candy is as fascinated by nature as he is robotics. He frequently twins the two sources of inspiration in his sculpture. The results can be described as biomimetic – an object that imitates a plant or an animal. Big dipper features nine pairs of fluorescent arms, attached to a central metal spine. Its illuminated limbs move slowly and smoothly through the air in a wave-like pattern. All at once, the sculpture resembles an insect, an octopus or perhaps something we might find at the depths of the ocean. The title of the work, Big dipper, refers to a star constellation of the same name. This constellation is visible from both hemispheres of the globe. This is an important feature to Candy as he is interested in the ways in which humans, flora and fauna are united through universal patterns in nature. Although Big dipper appears familiar to us for all these reasons, Candy has actually created a new kind of creature.

Cryptid (2019)

Cryptid (2019) is a lumbering kinetic light sculpture and another example of a biomimetic form. With six illuminated legs and an articulated body, the sculpture looks like an oversized, slow-moving insect.

The term ‘cryptid’ is used to describe creatures whose existence is unknown or purely anecdotal, rather than based on scientific evidence. Examples of cryptids include the Loch Ness Monster of Scottish folklore, the Yeti of the Himalayas or North America’s Bigfoot. These animals share an aura of elusiveness; they have managed to avoid capture and subsequently become known and studied by scientists.

Michael Candy’s Cryptid prompts us to think more deeply about technology. As our lives have become increasingly dependent on devices and machines, he asks us to consider their place and role in the world. Just as we classify insects, flowers, trees and even clouds, might we also classify robots? Candy is proposing his cryptid has autonomy – that it can think and act on its own, independent of human control. As a self-acting, independent entity, could Cryptid be a new kind of species?