SHAKESPEARE would no doubt approve of the madness which has popped up on the doorstep of his childhood home.
A new moving sculpture has been created inside a traditional red telephone box on Henley Street.
The MAD (Mechanical Art and Design) Museum, based in Sheep Street, bought the refurbished telephone box and commissioned one of their favourite resident artists, Pascal Bettex, to create the sculpture.
The sculpture is a tribute to Shakespeare and features several objects relating to the Bard and his plays.
Pascal, a kinetic artist from Switzerland, was tasked with producing a machine which embodies the best of the MAD Museum and Stratford – a mix of historical acclaim and forward-thinking inventiveness.
Pascal, who has already created three kinetic pieces of moving art at The MAD Museum, has spent the last two months at home designing and building the artwork.
Although the museum own the decommissioned BT phone box, it must remain in place in Henley Street. Its revamping follows a recent trend of converting redundant telephone boxes for everything from coffee shops to libraries. More than 5,800 payphones have been adopted by communities since 2008.
Museum manager Iain Simmons said: “Since we purchased the telephone box a few months ago, we have been racking our brains trying to think what we could do with this iconic British symbol.
“We hold Pascal in such high esteem that we decided he was the only choice for creating this fascinating moving masterpiece and we look forward to unveiling the sculpture where it will be on display 24/7 for the public to view.”
The MAD Museum is the only permanent museum of its kind in the UK which showcases over 90 pieces of kinetic art and automata. Visitors can watch and interact with mind-boggling mechanical creations such as flying mechanical birds and clever clocks.
Visit www.themadmuseum.co.uk for further details.