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This work of kinetic art is a machine that balances a little red ball on a cambered surface. By horizontally turning this tread clockwise or anticlockwise by a powerful motor, the control unit tries to keep the ball up and prevent it from falling down. Two light barriers are detecting if the ball comes to close to the surface's edges and drive the motor accordingly.
The machine offers the spectacle of a mechanism that does something quite human: trying to balance a ball without certain reasons, maybe just for fun. The resulting movements seem to be quite familiar to our own efforts, if we would try the balance act: For some time the ball is under great control; with just little actions it stays in the middle of the roll area. But the left and right turns can grow, the motor drives faster and the machine makes strong and hectic movements with its 24-inch-cantilever to keep the ball up (the machine is nervous). Most of the times the machine succeeds to hold the ball and calms down again, but sooner or later the technology will fail and the ball falls down.
Sakrileg won the first prize of Conrad Electronic art competition for electronic art in 1991. The Head of the jury was the well-known artist Walter Giers. In his laudation he said: "Sakrileg convinces by its design analog to its function. This cybernetic system, with its irregular and chaotic movements combined with cool aesthetic and elegance, shows the perfect harmony of idea and final object."
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