Ghost train for Rebecca Moss
I first became aware of Rebecca's work after seeing some of her videos at the Somerset House Beano exhibition a few years ago, and so was delighted when she contacted me a while later. Rebecca had secured some funding to spend a day at my workshop learning about electronics and mechanisms, and we discussed future collaborations.
When Museum Tinguely contacted Rebecca about an installation to celebrate what would've been Jean Tinguely's 100th birthday, she very kindly asked me to be involved.
Tinguely is one of my very favourite artists and I'd made a pilgrimage to the museum a few years back, so it was great to get involved with the celebrations.
The museum had decided to set up a fabulous 1930s ghost train, but allow the original spooky interior to be replaced with works by Rebecca and a second artist, Augustin Rebetez.
My involvement was to make four mechanical systems, triggered as the vistors' carts sped by.
The biggest piece was a wall of 120 plastic skulls that simultaneously blew party whistles when activated. There was also a table that wobbled a giant jelly, a large cake that tipped forward menacingly, and 7 severed heads with Monty Python style mouths that sing "Stayin' Alive".
The mechanisms all had to be pretty indestructible as they would see months and months of frequent use.
At the time of writing the ghost train is still running, so do check it out if you happen to be in Basel.
Build notes here.
Rebecca's page has better photos of the final setup!
If you're an artist and want help to make something, do get in touch. The main limitation is always the available budget, but if you have the funds then pretty much anything is possible.
If you can think of the idea I can definitely build it for you.
