University of Queensland engineers help create a "monster"

University of Queensland engineers help create a "monster"

Art and engineering have come together to create a "monster" in a collaborative project between the University of Queensland's Mechanical Engineering Department and two Brisbane performance artists.

Created for street performances at the Out of the Box children's festival and other events, the "Thinguloper" is an articulated fantasy creature which appears to move independently but is operated by a "pilot" hidden within its body.

The brainchild of performance artist John Haag, it was manufactured by Mechanical Engineering Department staff members George Dick and Neil Duncan with supervision by Associate Professor David Radcliffe.

"John designed the overall concept, giving very clear descriptions of the workings but no dimensions. We've given input into exactly how it could be manufactured, as well as physically making it," Dr Radcliffe said.

"John can see the concepts but you can't just knock these things up in the garage on the weekend - so that's where our expertise comes in."

"We made the internal structure and the mechanical legs and another performance artist, Rob Bowen-Saunders, made the costume part."

Dr Radcliffe said the most important parts of the Thinguloper's design were the articulated legs.

"We're not aware of anything else like it in the world, in the sense of that articulation," he said.

"This is not a pantomime horse with one person in the front and one in the back; and it's not some stilt-walker with stiff legs.

"The innovation is that these legs bend at the joints: the front legs bend in three places and that's quite tricky.

"Because the joints need to be ?engineered' we've gone beyond just wood and cloth and the normal materials you use in performance art."

Dr Radcliffe said the mechanism of the Thinguloper was an exciting concept which could be developed further and could attract interest from other performance artists.

"I see this as an innovative collaboration between art and engineering. The exciting bit is that there are people and mechanisms working in unison - the mechanism is enhancing the person to create a performance."

For more information contact Dr Radcliffe (telephone 3365 3579, facsimile 3365 4799 or email radcliffe@mech.uq.edu.au).