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Martin Smith: Kinetic Arboretum

10am – 5pm

The Bowes Museum

The Bowes Museum welcomes three artworks by UK-based artist Martin Smith (b. 1972) to its grounds.

Smith’s Kinetic Arboretum, 2018, sees three metal trees respond to the elements with gentle, rhythmical movements, while inside, Bird Wave, 2007, and Wishing You Well, 2019, draw our attention to the parts of functional objects we rarely see, highlighting rather than hiding mechanisms. Bird Wave’s 73 pairs of wings gently flap, its gears, cams and rods rotating and sliding in automated harmony — while in Wishing You Well a mechanical pool of water ripples and rolls into life through coin-operated offering.