Hard disks in computers contain strong magnets in all kinds of shapes, as I discovered after taking apart my first couple of broken hard disks.
They also contain a wealth of other components that I have integrated in my other projects as well, one way or another. Like the supports between the disks, if there is more than one (sometimes, especially with older HD’s, there’s a whole stack of them), the central motor that drives them, the rings that secure them, and the (Eifeltower-shaped) mechanism that normally moves across the disks to read and write data.
The ‘Art Disk’ series started when I tried to use the magnets – or rather the metal parts that the magnets are attached to – to create three-dimensional structures. These metal parts come in many different shapes, and I found that quite a few of these resemble more or less the shape of an animal, or its head. So it was fun to try and combine a number of parts to make the result look a bit like that animal.
Later on I started adding extra parts (some of them also magnetic) like the rings I mentioned above, in order to be able to extend the construct to make it look like it is doing something, see the various ‘motor cycle rider’ figures below.
The ‘Art Disk’ objects are initially assembled using nothing but their natural – magnetic – attraction to each other. But in order to make them more robust, to better survive handling, I plan to experiment with a transparent layer on top that should support and fixate the weaker connections.
Dimensions: up to 13 or 14 cm tall or wide.