Contours Of Duration

MOTION AUTHORED BY FORM

ABOUT

Contours of Duration explores how geometry can generate and shape movement through an insect-inspired cam-and-follower system. Rotating cams activate a series of leg-like components, with each cam profile producing a distinct repetitive motion.

Through iterative experimentation, the traces left by these movements become a way to record, compare, and understand mechanical behavior over time. Together, the mechanisms and their traces form a behavior archive that reveals the relationship between geometry, movement, and duration.

USING FORM TO SCRIPT, SHAPE, AND CO-AUTHOR MOVEMENT

Each cam shape acts as a physical script, creating a different rhythm and behavior. In Trace, the mechanisms move through sand, leaving marks that record pressure, direction, and time, showing how form, material, and environment work together to shape movement.