National Geographic: Star Clock B.C.
A physical reconstruction for National Geographic’s Naked Science program, making the complex Antikythera mechanism large enough to examine and explain.
An ancient device, made visible
National Geographic’s Star Clock B.C. explored the Antikythera mechanism, the intricate geared device recovered from an ancient shipwreck. Mad produced an enlarged model to help explain the mechanism and the questions surrounding its operation.
The object was the project
The commission put model-making and physical construction at the center of a television story. The enlarged mechanism allowed its arrangement of gears and pointers to become an object that could be inspected on camera, alongside the documentary’s interviews with experts.
This work belongs to Mad’s wider practice of developing physical exhibits and custom mechanisms to make complex subjects understandable.
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