Ned Kahn

Ned Kahn is an environmental artist and sculptor. His work usually involves "capturing an invisible aspect of nature and making it visible; examples include building facades that move in waves in response to wind; indoor tornadoes and vortices made of fog, steam, or fire; a transparent sphere containing water and sand which, when spun, erodes a beach-like ripple pattern into the sand surface" (wikipedia.org). He won a MacArthur Foundation genius grant fellowship in 2003 and the National Design Award for environmental design in 2005. Kahn currently lives and works in California. Kahn's work provides insight into contemporary society.

"On the one hand, he has a strong commitment to making projects that respond to their environment and to individual viewers. On the other hand, he seeks out natural complexity, and he knows intimately how natural turbulence can develop in technological systems" (http://www.nedkahn.com/biography.html).

Kahn is an artist I just happened to stumble upon in an artist's directory. His work is almost in the same vein as Andy Goldsworthy and also Chris Welsby. He uses nature to create these monumental sculptures. Nature works with his projects, much like Welsby's, where wind and other natural elements make the cameras move.

"In contrast to Turrell, Goldsworthy and Eliasson, however, Kahn harnesses kinetic, natural forces within formal, exhibition settings, and his works come to resemble interactive science experiments" (http://www.nedkahn.com/biography.html). In one of his projects, Slice of Wind, 10,000 metal discs move freely and reflect light as the wind passes through them. I enjoy the kinetic nature of Kahn's work. It's a lot like what I am doing now, where I just set my camera down and expose for long periods of time, letting nature do its thing. All I do is sit and capture it. I like the fact that all of his work is a scientific experiment. He makes these "experiments" yet they function as art so everyone can interact with them.

http://www.hohlwelt.com/en/interact/context/nedkahn.html

 www.newlangtonarts.org

http://www.nedkahn.com/