The automaton theater

Hero of Alexandria was a Greek geometrician, engineer, and inventor who lived in Alexandria probably during the first century A.D. He wrote in Greek a number of theoretical treatises revealing a thorough knowledge of geometry, mechanics, optics, and pneumatics. Being more interested in the applications of his theoretical principles than in the principles themselves, Hero is known as the inventor of a number of ingenious devices based on principles of pneumatics, mechanics, and optics. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate Hero's work from an artistic viewpoint. To this end, it focuses on devices described in three of Hero's treatises, Pneumatica, Catoptrica, and Automatopoietica, in order to identify their artistic value and artistic novelty. Hero's influence on subsequent artistic-technical work, and in particular on the contemporary automaton theater, is also discussed. Finally, considerations are added in relation to a new project.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

1991

Author dc:creator

• Xagoraris, Zafirios

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Otto Piene.

• Architecture.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/70642

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/70642