Nickel Construction 1921

Nickel Construction is by László Moholy-Nagy. I think he’s cool. What a strange object; it's almost like a machine but it's handmade and welded together with a material that reflects light, and a material that's also a mineral from the earth. So, it's like a mineral from the earth has become something technological, but it’s hand-made. Look at those curly-wurly ribbons, leaping up into the air! When I look at this piece I can feel what it was like to make it, bending and shaping the material. I can almost hear the clanging and banging, and smell the heat. It's industrial, but playful. Moholy-Nagy was interested in the relationship between art and technology, and he was part of the Bauhaus movement. Other Bauhaus artists explored the meeting place between different ideas and materials. They asked; how can art affect people, how can it shape the world?