designboom · Creativity & design

Artist Reimagines Rodin's Thinker with Network Cable

Artist Kasey McMahon has created a life-size sculpture of Rodin's iconic "The Thinker" using hundreds of feet of network cable and steel, offering a contemporary interpretation of the contemplative figure.

The sculpture replaces the traditional bronze with the physical infrastructure of the networked world, reflecting on bodies, networks, and technology. McMahon has previously used network cable as a sculptural material, drawn to materializing the infrastructure behind digital lives.

This is the fourth life-size human figure in McMahon's ongoing body of work and the first male figure. The process involved a welded steel armature for anatomy and posture, followed by hand-wrapping and layering of CAT5 and CAT6 network cable.

Connectors, markings, and individual cable lengths are left visible, with blue, gray, and white cables dominating, accented by red strands. The work was fabricated in McMahon's Portland-area studio.

The familiar pose is recontextualized by the network-based material, prompting reflection amidst current discussions on artificial intelligence and technology. The sculpture does not aim to resolve these tensions but simply exists in contemplation.

The life-size sculpture combines a steel armature with hundreds of feet of cable, with CAT5 and CAT6 cables wrapped and layered by hand. Individual lengths of network cable remain exposed, forming the figure's mass and contours.

The sculpture was privately commissioned and is now installed in Austin, Texas. The dominant palette consists of blue, gray, and white cables, punctuated by red strands.

AI-samenvatting op basis van de bron.