Status: Real (though probably glued together)
Kathy forwarded me these pictures of
sculptures made entirely from cans. She notes that:
"It says 'stacked can art' but I can't see how some of these are not glued together. How could they stand up that well, unless they got glued together?"
I agree. There's no way glue hasn't been used in some of these sculptures. Particularly the one of the butterfly, in which a few of the cans appear to be totally unsupported. The sculptures were created for the
Canstruction Contest, which is a contest sponsored by the Society for Design Administration for the Design and Construction Industry. According to the contest blurb:
Competing teams, lead by architects and engineers, showcase their talents by designing giant sculptures made entirely out of canned foods. At the close of the exhibitions all of the food used in the structures is donated to local food banks for distribution to pantries, shelters, soup kitchens, elderly and day care centers.
So they say that the sculptures are made entirely out of canned foods, but they don't claim that no glue was used. Therefore I'm assuming that glue is permissible. Many more examples of Canned Art can be viewed at the
Canstruction Slideshow.
Comments
http://www.cardstacker.com/
Although, seeing stacks of the cans on their sides that are not making a break for it just for being on their curved sides is kinda cool.
check the butterfly.. some cans are "flying"
Even things like the butterfly could use the materials listed on the website. It's much more impressive and fun to build if you don't use glue.
According to the website, "Structurally self-supporting, the only other materials to be used are<b> 1/4
From what I saw, they did indeed use the materials allowed; some of King Kong's arms and such were pretty ingeniously balanced and held together with rubber bands. I never saw glue, which I suspect wouldn't help too much from the weight of the cans. The one milk carton was disqualified from a prize because they used a wooden frame structure inside, but all the others are just stacked cans, cleverly balanced.
There were 5-year olds running around, but there was a guard at each sculpture keeping a close eye and warning people to get back. They did have at least two mishaps where someone knocked over a sculpture, which happens pretty much every year.
You can see my photos on Flickr, along with lots of other people's:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/electrasteph/sets/1371877/
Kathy~aka "thephrog"
"Since structures must be self-supporting, two-by-fours and half-inch plywood are against the rules. Leveling materials such as cardboard and quarter-inch foam are allowed, as are clear tape, wire and rubber bands. 'We try to stress that you are going to be judged by the purity of the structure,' says Cheri Melillo [Canstruction's founder], who notes that entries have become increasingly sophisticated over the past 12 years. If the judges have to choose between a stunning structure that relies on stacking techniques versus one that uses a layer of cardboard between each layer of cans, the pure structure is more likely to be the winner because it was more of a challenge to build."
😉
I've only seen 2 useful forms of tape without glue - one is used in drywalling (the drywall mud could be considered the "glue" possibly) and the other was used in the computer industry, called "paper tape" - an early form of data storage & program distribution. Early MicroSoft BASICs for the Altair & other machines were originally distributed on paper tape.
Laterz,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger