tim hunkin’s roadside camera built 1997/98 from scrap aluminum signage.

using the Ilfochrome positive-to-positive process, ultralarge format 16″x20″ photographs were exposed and developed within the camera itself.

Novelty Automation

I remember many a trip to the seaside Suffolk town of Southwold, the highlights of which were always chips, a cheese shop, and a visit to the ‘Under the Pier Show’, a collection of bizarre arcade games. I was excited to find out that due to running out of space in Southwold, the inventor behind the arcade, Tim Hunkin, had started a second arcade in London, near to Holborn tube station.

Novelty Automation is a little off the tourist track (despite its proximity to the British Museum and Oxford Street), and all for the better, in my opinion. It means that there is rarely a queue for the wonderful and irreverent machines.

Tim Hunkin started out making arcade machines in the 1980s, taking inspiration from 18th century automata and giving them a modern twist. They take a unashamedly silly look at current affairs (getting on the housing ladder, greedy bankers), lifestyle (instant weight loss, celebrity magazines), science (win a Nobel Prize) and culture (just what is Art?), amongst other things. A favourite is ‘Pet or Meat?’ – spin the wheel and decide the lamb’s fate.

Tim Hunkin has been remastering his Secret Life of Machines series and has uploaded all the eps to Youtube. At the end of every episode he’s added a little commentary.

The Secret Life of Machines is a show from 1988 made by Tim Hunkin and Rex Garrod that explains how common household machines work. It’s full of models and strange contraptions made by the duo to demonstrate some functions in detail.