hundreds of feet of cable and steel reimagine rodin’s thinker for networked age

Kasey McMahon rebuilds The Thinker from steel and cable

Artist Kasey McMahon reimagines the contemplative figure for the networked age, constructing a life-size Thinker by hand from steel and hundreds of feet of network cable, the physical infrastructure through which contemporary information travels.

A nod to Rodin’s iconic contemplative figure, the work replaces the solidity of bronze with the tangled physical infrastructure of the networked world. McMahon began working with network cable as a sculptural material more than a decade ago, drawn to the idea of turning the infrastructure behind our digital lives into something physical.

all images by Aaron Wessling – Single File Studio unless stated otherwise

Hundreds of feet of network cable form The Human Figure

The Thinker is the fourth life-size human figure in that ongoing body of work and the first male figure. The sculpture began with a welded steel armature that established the anatomy and seated posture. Artist Kasey McMahon then wrapped and layered hundreds of feet of CAT5 and CAT6 network cable by hand until the figure took shape.

Rather than concealing the material, the construction leaves connectors, printed markings, and individual lengths of cable visible. Blue, gray and white dominate the figure, punctuated by strands of red. The work was fabricated in McMahon’s Portland-area studio, a converted 120-year-old garage. The process moved between welding and metal fabrication, anatomical adjustment, and the slower work of wrapping and layering cable to give the figure its final mass and gesture.

Kasey McMahon reimagines Rodin’s Thinker using network cable

The Thinker is a reflection on bodies, networks, and technology

The pose is familiar, but the material changes the question. The figure is unmistakably human, yet its body is made from the infrastructure through which human communication and information travel. The Thinker arrives amid an increasingly charged conversation about artificial intelligence and our relationship with technology. It doesn’t attempt to resolve that tension. The figure simply sits, and thinks. The sculpture was privately commissioned and is now installed in Austin, Texas. 

the life-size sculpture combines a steel armature with hundreds of feet of cable

network cable becomes the physical material of the contemporary figure

CAT5 and CAT6 cables are wrapped and layered by hand around the armature

layers of cable build the figure’s final mass and contours

individual lengths of network cable remain exposed rather than concealed

blue, gray, and white cables form the sculpture’s dominant palette

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image by Kasey McMahon

image by Kasey McMahon

project info:

name: The Thinker
artist: Kasey McMahon – Atypical Art | @kasey.mcmahon

studio photography: Aaron Wessling – Single File Studio | @singlefile_studio

process and installation photography: Kasey McMahon

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. See more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: Christina Vergopoulou | designboom