Kempelen's Owls
Kempelen's Owls
NAPA and the Art in Public Program (AIPP) of the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division are proud to announce Kempelen’s Owls, a permanent public artwork in downtown Austin, TX.
Inspired by the 18th-century robotics of Wolfgang Von Kempelen, Kempelen’s Owls will is an interactive sculpture that fosters curiosity. Two Texan great horned owls, each standing ten feet tall and constructed of layered metal and composite materials, perch atop dodecahedrons and silently observe their surroundings. The interactive features of the work are hidden, awaiting discovery by visitors who can activate them to trigger movement in the owls.
This work has been designed and fabricated through a generous 2 year residency at the Autodesk Technology Center in Boston, MA.
NAPA believes public art should be public from conception to completion, thus creating a resource for innovation and the creative economy. As such the project will be AIPP’s first ever fully open-sourced permanent public artwork, with all of the concepts, designs, contracts and methods being made available to the public under a Creative Commons license.
For more information, visit austincreates.com or newamericanpublicart.com and follow NAPA on Instagram and GitHub.
Want to spread the word? Share our one-pager (PDF).
3D Model - Fusion 360
This is a simplified CAD model of the entire owl assembly. It contains most structural elements, attachments, and off the shelf components. It does not model every cord run, fiber run, bolt and nut, but represents 98% of the work. If you are interested in a particular sub assembly contact us and we’ll dig up the original files. Many different file types of this model are available for download from the A360 site :
Kempelen’s Owls - Full CAD
Kempelen’s Owls is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International CC BY-SA 4.0
So feel free to download this model and nerd out.
Sponsors and Collaborators
No great feat is ever by a single hand. This project would not be possible without the help of these organizations and individuals. They have being integral to the process and actuality of Kempelen’s Owls.
Special Thanks
Kempelen's Owls - Design Book
Learn more about the conceptual origins, design process, and collaborators in the Kempelen's Owls - Design Book. The book takes you step-by-step through our creative process and influences for this project and includes hi-res renderings of the work.
Looking to print the book? Contact us and we'll send you a link to a hi-res version.
Kempelen's Owls
New American Public Art 2019
600 W 2nd St, Austin, TX 78701