"The Hand of Man" is an interactive sculpture by the American artist Christian Ristow. It consists of an eight-metre long, hydraulically controlled human hand and forearm, capable of lifting and crushing a car, and is operated through the use of an ergonomically designed control device in the form of a glove. Members of the audience are invited to put their hand in the control device and - with the help of powerful hydraulic technology, lift, crush and throw huge objects, like a car, with ease.
Many years of experience proved that using hydraulic machines for smashing up objects really is fun, but it isn’t fair that only individual artists and operators of heavy machinery get to have this exhilarating experience: "The Hand of Man" democratises the power of crushing!
The installation has been featured at artistic, musical and cultural events in the USA (Burning Man Festival, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival) and at musical, arts and technology festivals in Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia and Israel.
Supported by: Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Tourism and City of Rijeka - Department of Culture
The programme is part of Rijeka 2020 - European Capital of Culture project
Rijeka - Port of Diversity
Christian Ristow (US)
Raised in San Francisco, the son of a plastic surgeon and a fine-artist, Christian Ristow developed an early and keen interest in the intersection between aesthetics and structure. After receiving a B.A. in Architecture from Columbia University in New York, he returned to San Francisco and began his apprenticeship with the groundbreaking robot performance group Survival Research Laboratories. Inspired by the experience and influenced by the works of sculptor Jean Tingueley, architect Santiago Calatrava, and artist H.R. Giger, Ristow began engineering his own distinctively biomechanical creations. After moving to Los Angeles in 1998, Ristow put his robots to work, orchestrating a series of solo shows exploring themes of unchecked power, sexual aggression, and human mortality.
Since his 2006 move to New Mexico, Ristow's work has focused on large-scale interactive mechanical sculptures, such as the Hand of Man, Fledgling, Face Forward, and Becoming Human, among others.
Ristow’s high-octane performance art and large sculptures have been seen at galleries, festivals, and fairs all over the world, from Los Angeles to New York City, from Jerusalem to Berlin to Melbourne, Australia.
His work has been featured in books like Robo Sapiens and Body Probe, in magazines such as Popular Mechanics, Wired, National Geographic, Spin, Raygun, Penthouse and Bizarre, as well as on Current TV and The Discovery Channel’s Monster Garage and Monster Nation. His animatronic and robotic work has been featured in Bicentennial Man, Stephen Spielberg’s A.I., Spider-Man 2, and Zathura, among other feature films and television commercials.
https://www.christianristow.com/
