Heath Robinson Museum - Contraptions & Connections

William Heath Robinson, Tim Hunkin, Fi Henshall, Tim Lewis, Paul Spooner, Carlos Zapata, Jim Bond, Tim Ellis, Michael Landy, Nancy Fouts (1945–2019), Keith Newstead (1956–2020)

The fascination with automata and mechanical play stretches back thousands of years. From ancient Egyptian tombs to the intricate clockwork marvels of the 14th century, through to the lifelike machines of 18th-century Europe — such as Jaquet-Droz’s writing automata and Joseph Merlin’s famous Silver Swan — the desire to bring objects to life through motion has always captured the human imagination.In Contraptions & Connections, today’s artists pick up that tradition with a modern twist — using recycled materials, found objects, and clever engineering to make machines that do everything from drawing pictures to playing music.