WAVE GENERATOR
©1974
12 feet x 20 feet x 5 feet
In the collection of the Phaeno Museum, Wolfsburg, Germany
"He [Norman Tuck] cranks up one piece [Wave Generator], setting huge, oarlike wands flopping from a pivot point, and begins with a standard explanation: 'Different things have resonant frequency depending on their length and width and strength.'
But soon enough, the sculpture takes over: It will 'tell you about resonant frequency' itself, he says. As he continues to crank the oars wave and wriggle, he narrates their grounded journey through space. Each oar continues to flop, but at some point, seems to achieve equilibrium. 'Finally it seems happy, and it's reached its resonant frequency. It likes to be there.' The scientific theory seems like mumbo-Jumbo, but who can't understand this kind of intuitive definition?" - Judy Arginteanu, The St. Paul Pioneer Press, 1999.
"...Wave Generator suggests the movements of water without actually incorporating any. Another viewer-activated piece, it consists of four long, slender, tapered slabs of lumber whose large ends are attached to another free-standing, hand-cranked apparatus. When the crank is turned, these wood slabs move up and down in sequence to create a series of wave like motions."
- Tom Patterson, The Winston-Salem Journal, 1991.
"...[The] "Wave Generator" piece shows how one wave can move twice as fast as the one next to it, a phenomenon bodysurfers will appreciate." - Delcie Leimbach, The New York Times, 1978.