Sculptures

Gerrit van Bakel

'Tarim Machine' 1979 - 1982

Location: in de hal of the Hoofdgebouw 

Van Bakel designed the 'Tarim Machine', which the TU/e acquired in 1989, for the Documenta in Kassel. It was a reaction to the Blue Flame, a rocket on three wheels that had set the world speed record on the salt planes of Utah.

Van Bakel invented the Tarim Machine in order to pass through the Tarim basin. The construction was going to be given thirty million years to pass through this area, north of Tibet and almost as vast as Europe. By way of comparison: the Blue Flame would need an hour at most for this.

Through the differences in temperature the oil in the pipes expands and presses on a membrane. Via an axis it transfers the movement to a hook, which engages in turn with the next a cog of a cogwheel. This is how the machine is propelled. Regardless whether the ground is sand, salt or rocks, or whether the construction is ‘walking’ up the mountains, even if it keels over, the Tarim Machine will always keep going.

Van Bakel already imagined the next scene: "A grandfather will say to his grandson: Do you see that machine, it is coming. You must tell your grandson to set up his hut a bit to the left, otherwise the machine will go over it."

See also: Voorlopige Regenboogmachine