Over the last four decades kinetic/sound artist Martin Riches has designed and produced a sizeable array of kinetic objects, sound sculptures and audio/visual installations, all of which he prefers to simply call ‘machines’.

Originally trained as an architect, Riches incorporates a strong engineering aesthetic into his work, concealing nothing, he has made the transparency of these machines one of their substantive virtues. Many of Riches’ devices are interactive, requiring some form of instruction or stimulation to trigger responses such as motion, music or speech, while others are pre-programmed to function independently. The performed tasks and displayed skills that are meticulously designed into these machines are not intended to imitate observed activities or learned abilities, but rather, they are to assist in Riches’ ongoing investigation and exploration of how audio-visual information is perceived and processed.

www.martinriches.de