What makes a watch tick? How does a sewing machine stitch? Where does an iPod get its shuffle? For those who have ever asked questions like these, Things Come Apart is a revelation. The Orange County Regional History Center (65 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801) is home for this Traveling Smithsonian Exhibit until May 6, 2018.
Through extraordinary photographs, disassembled objects and fascinating videos, Things Come Apart reveals the inner workings of common, everyday possessions. Images of dozens of objects explore how things are designed and made and how technology has evolved over time. For example, the individual components of a record player, a Walkman, and an iPod illustrate the technical changes in sound reproduction over the years, and images of the parts of a mechanical and digital watch demonstrate different approaches to timepiece engineering.
After photographer Todd McLellan disassembles each object, he spends hours arranging its components in the order in which they were taken apart to achieve a cohesive photograph. With the eye of an artist and the precision of a scientist, he then captures a moment in time of the components falling to the ground. Things Come Apart includes four disassembled objects permanently mounted in acrylic for display in cases to be provided by exhibitor, in addition to short videos documenting Todd’s artistic process.
The History Center added it’s own Central Florida items to the exhibit such as a Disney World Singing Cockatoo animatronic from the Tiki Room. A vintage video from Walt Disney himself introduces the inner working of the mechanical bird. The staff also disassembled a Beefy King sandwich to highlight the inner workings of the local flavor sensation. The youngest person at the VIP opening was particularly absorbed in the Tiki Bird and a slow motion video of a piano being dropped to the pavement.
Things Come Apart strikingly reveals the design and engineering behind some of our most common, useful, and prized possessions.
Amazing!