Larose Guyon developed a design for New York-based Rockwell Group’s brand new EMC2 Hotel in Chicago and came up with an interactive sculpture that combines ingenuity, art and science. An Old Technology Born Anew.

In revisiting the zoetrope, a forerunner to cinema invented in 1834 by William George Horner and Simon von Stampfer, Larose Guyon were inspired to create their own new way to animate objects. Forty-four pairs of laser-cut copper wings are arranged inside a large wheel which is cranked by hand. Looking inside while turning the hand crank will give life to the otherwise motionless display.

The usually cold and inert materials suddenly become light and alive. The crank handle, itself a lacework flower, brims with femininity and romanticism. The wings move in three dimensions, leaving the onlooker in awe of such a captivating sight. This work is a mere reminder that inventions of old are still something to marvel at, if you only let your inner child take over for a little while.