a) descriptions of robert gober work leads to—

b) memory of a wonderful piece called the way things go by artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss. “Using elemental means - fire and fireworks, blasts of air, gravity, and a variety of corrosive liquids - the artists manage to sustain a chain reaction of evermore absurd materials and events for 30 minutes.” searching for this piece lead to—

c) a honda ad called cog which somehow i’d managed never to see, and though pretty clearly drawing on the way things go manages still to be pretty gorgeous. the ad site lead me to—

d) a further bastardization in the form of a extremely silly cog paradoy. not satisfied to let my own chain reaction end on such a silly note i reversed course, which lead me to—

e) rube goldberg. i’m sure most people are at least somewhat familiar with rube goldberg’s ‘invention’ comic strips in which a simple action is reinvented to be as overly complex and absurd as possible. (many pictured here, click for full size). “goldberg’s cartoon inventions reflected the Machine Age ideals of progress but, in their unnecessary complexity, mocked its zeal for efficiency. His cartoons are rife with anti-machines that satirize the assembly line, the conveyor belt, and the automated world in general.” they’re great. as it turns out—

f) there are annual “rube goldberg device” competitions to build the most elaborate and ultimately pointless machines possible. searching for further examples lead me to the tangentially related—

g) jean tinuely famous for kinetic sculptures of the 60’s and 70’s, like homage to new york for instance, a self destroying machine built in the old moma’s sculpture garden. more googling under kinetic sculpture lead me to—

h) arthur ganson’s machines. very cool, some of which you can see in motion. ganson in turn lead me to—

i) tim prentice and his largely wind driven kinetic sculpture. which somehow, maybe from a boot kick striking a match which lit a candle which burned some string lead me to both—

j) the cellar which houses some devices by artist maarten huizinga, as well as to matthew steinke and his bizarre animatronic sound sculptures. at this point i felt as if i’d somehow gotten off the track, that my chain reaction was tottering dangerously out of control and if i was going to keep it from exploding i’d better get back to the original theme. searching again more strictly for “chain reactions” proper i came to what may as well be the most famous non nuclear chain reaction ever sold to innocent children—

k) milton bradley’s classic:

mouse trap. somehow, with that, i feel my own google chain reaction came to an extremely satisfactory conclusion.