Float (tambour vert clair)
A low resin-coated cylinder (the drum or tambour of its title), Float (tambour vert clair) creeps slowly—almost imperceptibly–thanks to a battery-powered motor beneath its slick exterior. In dialogue with the kinetic art movement, Breer developed his first Floats in 1966 through the Experiments in Art and Technology program, founded at Bell Laboratories to unite engineers and artists in the creation of new projects. This work dates to a second sculptural campaign created for Hammarskjöld Plaza in New York in 1972. Breer wrote about the playful animism of his sculptures: "To me it was important only that they have some life of their own—and to give them mobility seemed the best solution."[1] By situating his objects on the floor and allowing them to move freely, Breer asserts sculpture as spatial, mobile, and unfixed.
[1] Artist statement, December 5, 1967, published in "Artists on Their Art," Art International 12 (February 20, 1968), p. 45.
[1] Artist statement, December 5, 1967, published in "Artists on Their Art," Art International 12 (February 20, 1968), p. 45.
Artwork Details
- Title: Float (tambour vert clair)
- Artist: Robert Breer (American, Detroit, Michigan 1926–2011 Tucson, Arizona)
- Date: 1972
- Medium: Resin, paint, wood, motor, wheels, battery
- Dimensions: 18 1/2 × 39 1/2 × 39 1/2 in. (47 × 100.3 × 100.3 cm)
- Classification: Sculpture
- Credit Line: Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace and Estrellita and Daniel Brodsky Gifts, 2026
- Object Number: 2026.175a, b
- Rights and Reproduction: Kate Flax
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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