either the drawing plane or the marker moves…
suspended table harmonograph at the exploratorium san francisco 1988
a heavy rectangular plate is suspended from its four corners by wires, so it can swing around…
a fixed pen touches a sheet of paper taped to the plane which is set in motion with a push…
the decaying movement path is recorded as the fixed pen draws on the moving paper…
this type of harmonograph is easy to build – a heavy plane and long suspension cables will ensure a good duration of swing, producing more complex drawings…
the video below documents the use of the ‘drawing board’ at the exploratorium in san francisco – the same device I photographed above in 1988…
the video below documents the making of a single pendulum painting using wax encaustic by artist kim bernard…