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# Watch Alexander Calder's Kinetic Sculptures in Rarely Activated Motion
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/calder-mobiles-whitney-museum-american-art/
- Published: 2017-10-04T18:01:31.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:56:26.000Z
- Description: Watch Alexander Calder's kinetic sculptures in rare activations through videos shared by the Whitney Museum of American Art.
- Author: Allison Meier
- Tags: Art, Alexander Calder, Review, Video, Whitney Museum of American Art, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:30(2016, 2017, part 3)

![Alexander Calder, "Aluminum Leaves, Red Post" (1941), painted sheet metal, 60 3/4 x 40 3/4 x 42 1/2 inches (The Lipman Family Foundation; long-term loan to the Whitney Museum of American Art, © 2017 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), photo by Brian Kelley)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/08/caldermobile1.jpg)

Alexander Calder, “Aluminum Leaves, Red Post” (1941), painted sheet metal, 60 3/4 x 40 3/4 x 42 1/2 inches (The Lipman Family Foundation; long-term loan to the Whitney Museum of American Art, © 2017 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), photo by Brian Kelley)

[Alexander Calder ](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/alexander-calder/)is known for his use of movement in sculpture, but aside from some mobiles gently swaying, museum goers rarely get to witness that aspect of his work. [*Calder: Hypermobility*](http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/CalderHypermobility?ref=hyperallergic.com)at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York features performances and activations throughout its run, including some recently restored sculptures not triggered since Calder’s lifetime.

A few pieces gradually rotate, revealing unexpected shapes and colors. Some have more frenetic, motor-driven action, while others have gracefully suspended elements. The Whitney has[ an online calendar ](http://whitney.org/CalderHypermobilityActivationsPerformances?ref=hyperallergic.com)of when to catch a kinetic event. *Hypermobility* was organized by Curator of Performance Jay Sanders in collaboration with the Calder Foundation, and its president, Calder’s grandson Alexander S. C. Rower, is leading some of the one-time activations. Other sculptures are motorized or animated by touch more regularly in the gallery.

Calder began experimenting with mechanized sculptures in the 1930s, and the work in *Hypermobility* dates from that era up to the 1950s. Although the Calder mobile is ubiquitous, and the colossal Calder sculpture a popular public art presence and a regular in [architectural renderings](https://hyperallergic.com/211525/every-new-building-needs-an-alexander-calder-sculpture/), the performative nature of his work remains less recognized. For those who can’t make it to the Whitney, the museum has[ shared a series of videos of the moving sculptures on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQEOKyGjDyMunNMsC5sRIAJWC2lETKbvX&ref=hyperallergic.com), with some embedded below. They include Alexander S. C. Rower presenting the one-time activation of “Tightrope” (1936), with spindly objects balancing on a wire between two ebony carvings; the disorienting curls of “The Helices” (1944); the surprising layers of “Black Frame” (1934); and “Two Spheres” (1931) with white orbs floating across a dark void like lost stars.

[Calder: Hypermobility](http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/CalderHypermobility?ref=hyperallergic.com) *continues at the Whitney Museum of American Art (99 Gansevoort Street, Meatpacking District, Manhattan) through October 23.*