Linkage
- Artist: Kenneth Martin
- Date: 1955
- Medium: Wood, aluminium and nylon line
- Dimensions: object: 610 x 1613 x 343 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
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About this artwork
This is “Linkage” by Kenneth Martin, created in 1955. It’s a mobile built from thin wooden bars, aluminium and a nylon line, meant to be seen from below. Martin describes it as an experiment with a linkage that hangs from two points and balances around a central point, producing a range of horizontal curves when the wind or air flow shifts its parts.
The structure uses eight elements: the uppermost is a plain wooden bar; the lowest is a green‑painted aluminium plate. Between them are six white‑painted bars carrying wooden cubic weights – some “moving boxes” with double‑cubic weights to counterbalance the off‑centre suspension points. The use of bars reduces droop that Martin had seen in earlier mobiles, while the aluminium adds strength where wood tends to break.
Martin drew inspiration from Alfred Kempe’s 1877 lecture on linkages and W.K. Clifford’s 1878 text on dynamism. He combined a four‑bar plane linkage with another below it, so the bars can rotate fully in one plane, giving “completely bound together” motion that follows a straight line when projected onto a circle.
When the mobile moves, white panels flip back and forth while the green plate traces the path of the counterbalanced bars – a visual cue for the movement. The result is a lightweight, responsive system where wind can make ovals, figure eights, and other curves in the air. It’s a clear example of Martin’s blend of mechanical theory with artful construction.
See it in person
Linkage is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
