Kempelen's Owls

NAPA and the Art in Public Program (AIPP) of the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division are proud to announce Kempelen’s Owls, a permanent public artwork in downtown Austin, TX.

Inspired by the 18th-century robotics of Wolfgang Von Kempelen, Kempelen’s Owls will is an interactive sculpture that fosters curiosity. Two Texan great horned owls, each standing ten feet tall and constructed of layered metal and composite materials, perch atop dodecahedrons and silently observe their surroundings. The interactive features of the work are hidden, awaiting discovery by visitors who can activate them to trigger movement in the owls.

This work has been designed and fabricated through a generous 2 year residency at the Autodesk Technology Center in Boston, MA.



NAPA believes public art should be public from conception to completion, thus creating a resource for innovation and the creative economy. As such the project will be AIPP’s first ever fully open-sourced permanent public artwork, with all of the concepts, designs, contracts and methods being made available to the public under a Creative Commons license.



For more information, visit austincreates.com or newamericanpublicart.com and follow NAPA on Instagram and GitHub.

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