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Art Project: The Wonder Machine

For the dutch NGO “Stichting Kunst en Openbare Ruimte” I created one of the first technical incarnations of the wonder machine through the design made by Rob Meerman of Mannschaft fame. It was 2006 and this was surely a fast and advanced website by the standards of the day. Later I called the experience we created ‘the wonder machine’. The Wonder Machine is an experience for people to wonder around in an (in)finite foundry of art works. The wondering experience is made by connecting each work to others through the creator, location, time, genre, photographer, client, collection, size and much more. One can literally find art pieces you wouldn’t expect you wanted to visit.

Unfortunately, the engine and database I created are not live anymore because of technology progression: new versions, incompatibility and much more. It is however one of my dearest projects and I long to recreate and expand on the idea and apply it to more domains.

To me, the wonder machine is a project that can span all art pieces and projects that are offered through open art database initiatives. It will provide wonderment, inspiration and even connect people with hidden treasures in forgotten places. Perhaps It will lead to a resurgence of cultural interest.