Niklas Roy – Fine Art with Technology
Berlin-based artist Niklas Roy builds machines, kinetic installations and curious interfaces at the intersection of art, science and technology.
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Projects
- Glashütte Trash Clock (2026, Mechanical Clockwork) – “Glashütte Trash Clock” is a fully functioning clockwork made from trash and other stuff that I found in Glashütte, Saxony.
- Robot Factory (2023/25, Research Project) – Tiny drawing robots turn my workshop into an art factory – a research project on robotics, generative art, perception and the history of AI.
- Generative Art 1€ (2024/25, Vending Machine) – “Generative Art 1€” is a coin-operated vending machine for unique plotter drawings. A generative algorithm continuously draws an animated black line on a…
- Gute Frage! (2024, Workshop & Installation) – “Gute Frage!” (“Good question!”) – a kids' workshop in Frankfurt that turned a helical staircase into an interactive forest of over 200 DIY question signs.
- Strahlomat (2023/24, Kinetic Light Installation) – Strahlomat is a kinetic light installation: motorized spotlights, color gels, lenses and mirrors cast moving shadows from KITA's windows onto the Finnish snow.
- KKPS (2023, Art in Architecture) – Eight large pulleys with colorful ropes let the children of a Bremen school hang their artworks high above the staircase – sculpture and infrastructure.
- Under Construction (2023, Interactive exhibition) – Under Construction was a five-week interactive exhibition in Namur's Le Pavillon: a giant DIY lab where new art machines were built while it was open.
- Maschinenmosaik (2023, Collaborative Mural) – Maschinenmosaik is a 500 m² public artwork in Berlin-Lichtenberg, created by hundreds of neighbors with an arcade machine on wheels and local graffiti artists.
- Visitors Magnet (2022, Interactive Installation) – Visitors Magnet is an interactive art installation that invites its audience to uncover the mysteries of magnetism and electricity within a cabinet of…
- Deflektron (2022, Interactive Installation) – Deflektron is an interactive installation that invites its audience to explore the magnetic properties of electrons and to engage with the world of…
- Operation KiBa (2022, Interactive Ice Cream Catastrophy) – Operation KiBa is a game in which players collect scoops of ice cream with remote-controlled vehicles – a mobile installation made for kids in Frankfurt.
- Reading Glasses Stereoscope (2022, Parametric Bastelbogen & Workshop) – A DIY stereoscope made from cheap reading glasses – with an interactive online generator for a craft sheet that fits any pair of lenses.
- Bastelkoffer (2022, DIY Suitcases) – Bastelkoffer are lendable DIY suitcases, filled with thematic boxes of materials and tools for craft and electronics workshops with kids and youth.
- Bonprix (2022, Shopping Game) – Bonprix is the twisted re-creation of a supermarket’s self-checkout as an exciting arcade machine.
- Polyskop (2021, Art in Architecture) – POLYSKOP is a permanent art installation that I made for the new building at the Gemeinschaftsschule Campus Efeuweg, a public school in Berlin / Neukölln…
- Graffomat (2021, Spray Can Plotter) – Graffomat is a large spray can plotter that paints on the legal graffiti walls near my workshop in Berlin, developed together with the local graffiti scene.
- Vektorkollektor (2021, Mobile Installation) – VEKTORKOLLEKTOR is a participative installation with which people can draw images using a joystick.
- Cyborg Control (2021, Interactive Shop Window) – A remote-controlled toy cyborg in our shop window, which passers-by could steer with their smartphones through a slowly growing miniature world.
- Yukikaki Research Station (2020, Energy Harvesting Research) – The “Yukikaki Research Station” repurposes snow shovels (Japanese: “Yukikaki”) and other snow related gear as experimental wind turbines.
- Smart Fairy Tale (2020, Installation & Workshop) – “Smart Fairy Tale” is a remote controlled story machine. A little red ball rolls through a maze of transparent pipes.
- my own insta ;) (2020, Photo Sharing App) – In 2020 I started an online photo diary on my website, as an alternative to social media.
- The Spooky Machine (2020, Halloween Display) – The Spooky Machine is a Covid-safe Halloween puppet theater behind the glass door of my workshop, full of light effects to spook the neighborhood.
- Please Leave A Message (2020, Interactive Shop Window) – “Please Leave A Message” is a public message board that I installed in the large window of my workshop.
- Micromarble etc. (2019, Smartwatch Apps) – Micromarble, Control Center, Magnetometer and Tiny Typer – apps that I wrote for the card10, the programmable badge of the Chaos Communication Camp 2019.
- Card10 Cover Generator (2019, Generative 3D Model) – A customizable, 3D-printable cover for the card10 badge, modeled entirely with code in OpenSCAD.
- TRUE/FALSE (2019, Polygraph Workshop) – TRUE/FALSE was a workshop in which party guests built their own DIY polygraphs (“lie detectors”) – playing with truth, fake and the quantified self.
- Flying Pixel Portrait Camera (2018, Experimental Camera) – The Flying Pixel Portrait Camera uses a video beamer, a single photo resistor, an Arduino and a PC for taking photos of people’s faces.
- Advanced Selfie Machines (2018, Workshop) – In 2018 I gave a little workshop at HEAD, in which we challenged the selfie culture by developing our own "Advanced Selfie Machines.
- Wasserorgel von Winnenden (2018, Interactive Sound Installation) – The “Wasserorgel von Winnenden” is a musical fountain, powered by eight pressure washers and controlled by a musical keyboard.
- J'ai faim! (2018, Mechatronic Game) – This mechatronic game deals with eating. The player has to feed Barbie with sushi, hence the title “J'ai faim!”, which is French for “I'm hungry!”.
- Bubble Blast (2017/18, Electronic Game) – Bubble Blast is an electronic game for two players. Each player remotely controls a little vehicle, which has an inflated balloon attached to its back and…
- 20 Windmill-Powered Music Boxes (2017, Sound Installation) – A cluster of windmills is installed above the heads of the pedestrians on a public square in Namur, Belgium.
- DIY Thermal Imaging (2017, Thermal Imaging Experiment) – DIY thermal imaging with a cheap IR thermometer and an old webcam that reads its display – a low-budget way to visualize temperatures.
- Future Lab 1.0 (2017, Workshop) – Future Lab 1.0: a week with kids at Theater an der Parkaue, building props for an interactive performance about the future – and burying a time capsule.
- Windmill-Powered Music Box (2017, DIY-Instructions) – I've built a little windmill that powers a music box. I set it up in front of my workshop, where it was entertaining the entire neighborhood.
- Rocket Science (2017, Water Rocket Workshop) – A water rocket workshop for kids at Werkraum Schöpflin: in three days we built and launched twelve rockets, powered by compressed air and water.
- Scientific Truth Proclaimers (2017, Robot Workshop) – Robot workshop at Moscow's Polytech Festival: self-driving toy excavators with megaphones that broadcast scientific – and artistic – wisdoms.
- Dumb Communication Devices @ ÉCAL (2016, Art School Workshop) – Art school workshop at ÉCAL in Lausanne: students built communication devices for things a smartphone can't do – like a color-to-smell translator.
- How Barbie gets from A to B (2016, Art School Workshop) – Barbie has a problem with her personal mobility: She can't walk long distances anymore, as the permanent wearing of high heels has finally deformed her…
- Music Construction Machine (2016, Interactive Sound Installation) – The Music Construction Machine is a large, public, generative music box, which people can operate via a big hand crank.
- Remote Controlled Beer Crate (2016, Advanced BBQ Accessory) – “If you want to be successful on YouTube, you should build things like remote-controlled beer crates. “, Kati once said to me.
- Galactic Dimension (2015, Giant Pinall Machine) – Galactic Dimension is a supersized pinball machine which I’ve built for Phæno – an amazing science center in the German city of Wolfsburg.
- Forbidden Fruit Machine (2015, Interactive Painting) – The Forbidden Fruit Machine is based on a painting called ‘The Fall of Man’ created by Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem in 1592.
- Pneumatic Computing (2015, Workshop) – Pneumatic Computing: a two-week DIY workshop in Mons, in which we built computer-inspired components and a large interactive machine that work with air.
- Pneumatic Sponge Ball Accelerator (2014, Interactive Installation) – The Pneumatic Sponge Ball Accelerator contains 1000 black sponge balls, which are sucked through 150m of transparent pneumatic tubes with the power of a…
- Suck The Balls! (2014, Interactive Ball Pit) – “Suck the Balls!” lets people escape the daily grind and immerse into an endless, ecstatic play with thousands of little yellow plastic balls.
- À LOUER (2013, Interactive Shop Window) – À LOUER: in an empty shop in Sherbrooke, a robotic curtain follows the pedestrians – an adapted “My little piece of Privacy” that helps to find a new tenant.
- Rapid Robots (2013, Robot Workshop) – Rapid Robots: a one-week workshop at Fablab Berlin in which every participant built a moving robot from servos, cardboard and one-euro-shop treasures.
- We be Cyborgs (2013, Workshop) – We be Cyborgs: a workshop in Namur in which we turned ourselves into cyborgs, using one-euro-shop plastic, medical gear and hardware store parts.
- Cardboard Computer (2013, Art School Workshop) – Cardboard Computer: an art school workshop in Offenbach in which students built computers and their parts out of cardboard, rope and welding wire.
- Micro Monster Modular (2013, Algorithmic Sound Synthesizer) – Micro Monster Modular is an algorithmic sound synthesizer: microcontroller modules calculate sound waves in real time from patterns in binary numbers.
- Instant Art Career (2013, Interactive Installation and Performance) – Instant Art Career: a public painting machine in a Katowice gallery window, operated by passers-by with ropes – launching hundreds of art careers.
- Cardboard Plotter (2013, Interactive Object) – A working plotter made of cardboard, welding rods and glue, operated with two rotary dials – plus a little code book of drawings to plot.
- Umbrellaphones (2012, Sound Workshop) – Umbrellaphones: colorful umbrellas turned into wind-driven music boxes and soap bubble machines, built with the audience of a festival in São Paulo.
- Roboter Reiniger (2012, Tiny Household Robot) – For cleaning purposes I recently built this little robot. It uses a modified toothbrush to sweep floors.
- Perpetual Energy Wasting Machine (2012, Site-specific Installation) – “Perpetual Energy Wasting Machine” is a rope and pulley mechanism, installed in the staircase of the WRO Art Center in Wroclaw, Poland.
- Ping Pong Ball Suction Construction (2012, Interactive Environment) – A pneumatic machine that sucks up and transports ping pong balls, built for the Ping Pong Country installation by Bijan Dawallu and Remco Schuurbiers.
- Lumenoise (2011, Audiovisual Synthesizer) – Lumenoise is a light pen, which turns your old CRT-TV into an audiovisual synthesizer. You paint abstract geometric patterns and sounds directly onto the…
- Wasserklang Modulsystem (2011, Sound Installation) – For Berlin’s Museum Night 2011, Imira and I have connected the huge water wheel of the Museum of Technology with several mechanical music boxes.
- Electronic Instant Camera (2011, DIY Camera) – My “Electronic Instant Camera”, is a combination of an analog b/w videocamera and a thermal receipt printer.
- PING! - Augmented Pixel (2011, Augmented Reality Videogame) – PING! – Augmented Pixel is a seventies-style videogame: a classic rectangular ball bounces off anything dark in a live video image.
- Bastel Labor (2011, DIY Workshop) – Bastel Labor: a DIY electronics workshop at a street fest in my neighborhood, run from my little 1979 Piaggio Ape pick-up truck.
- Surprise Control (2010, DIY Workshop) – Surprise Control: short workshops in Basel and Zürich, in which participants built little “Surprise Machines” around a preprogrammed microcontroller.
- My Little Piece Of Privacy (2010, Interactive Shop Window) – A small curtain in my shop window that follows pedestrians with the help of a surveillance camera – and thereby attracts everyone's attention.
- Privéfonteintjes (2010, Public Installation and Performance) – Water wheels on a public fountain in Gent produced electricity for small private fountains, which we rented out to people in the park.
- Erstwiderstand (2010, Site-specific Installation) – Erstwiderstand is a wind tunnel at the entrance of an “Air machines” exhibition in The Hague, which every visitor had to pass.
- Vektron Modular (2010, Generative Sound Synthesizer) – “Vektron Modular” is a generative sound synthesizer. The sounds are produced by algorithms, which are stored on little modules.
- Spaziergalerie (2009, Art School Workshop) – Spaziergalerie: a mobile white cube with a kitchen, built with art students in Kassel and strolled through the city to bring art to the people.
- Mechanic Sound Workout (2009, Sound Workshop) – Workshop at CTM Festival Berlin: wild electromechanical sound machines with motors, springs and solenoids, sequenced by an old telephone switch.
- Elektromechanische Bar (2008, Art School Workshop) – A play- and useful bar, built in a workshop at the University of the Arts Berlin, stuffed with an automatic DJ machine, a cheers device and other gadgets.
- Pocket Sound Performer (2008, Generative Sound Synthesizer) – PSP is a hand held, all-in-one, highly versatile sound and music production device. The instrument dissolves the boundaries of discrete music production…
- Reinventing Television (2008, Art School Workshop) – In this technical allround workshop at Valand Academy, the students used gears, motors, microcontrollers and cranks to turn old televisions into new…
- International Dance Party (2008, Interactive Sound Installation) – The “International Dance Party” looks like a regular flight case – but in reality, it is a complete interactive party-in-a-box!
- Flora and Harmony (2007, Interactive Environment) – Flora and Harmony is a technoid, kinetic indoor jungle, built out of common electric household devices and a structure of stage equipment.
- Autohonk (2007, Car Accessory) – Autohonk is a car accessory that honks automatically whenever the driver hits the brake – a comment on Romanian traffic, made during a residency in Sibiu.
- Robotik Room (2007, Robotic Environment) – Robotik Room is a huge machine that automatically sets up a white cube exhibition space within seconds – made to fit into former factory halls.
- Gallerydrive - The Grand Illusion (2006, Immersive Installation) – Gallerydrive / The Grand Illusion is an all-in-one 1990’s immersive media art museum machinery drive-through videogame-like real world cyberspace…
- Gallerydrive (2006, Robotic Exhibition System) – Gallerydrive extrapolates the technical capabilities of an audio guide in order to achieve an art perception experience at a maximum level of control by…
- Reconstructing Relay Logics (2005, DIY Workshop) – Workshop in Hong Kong on relay computing: we turned a large toy tank into the “Art Tank”, an autonomous robot controlled by relay logic.
- Dokumat 500 (2005, Robotic Home Video System) – Dokumat 500 is an autonomous documentary robot that films home videos and edits them at the same time – creative decisions included.
- Grafikdemo (2004, Interactive Object) – Grafikdemo is a physical wireframe teapot inside a Commodore CBM cabinet, rotated via the keyboard – it looks like an old computer animation.
- Pongmechanik (2004, Electro-mechanical Game) – Pongmechanik is an electromechanical version of the early digital tennis game Pong. It uses computer technology of the 1940's to implement a computer…
- Teleflipper (2002, Interactive Installation) – Teleflipper is a closed circuit installation, that consists of two parts: a Star Trek pinball machine and a video game cabinet.
- Trigon (1998, Shortfilm) – This is a dark fantastic shortfilm about a person who gets lost in the media. The film plays on February, 29 th in 1951 - which explains the obscure…