Franz Gsellmann, Weltmaschine / World Machine

all pictures (Flickr, may 2008) 

courtesy of gernotp

In retrospect, the Atomium, symbol and landmark of the Brussels 1958 World Exposition, can be seen as marking the beginning of an era of unbelievable technological development.

Life and works

For Franz Gsellmann (1910-1981) the image of the Atomium must have been an eye-opener. He was born in the small community of Edelsbach, in the Steiermark-area in Austria, and since 1939 he took care of the family farm. As a young man he may have dreamed about a job of a more technological nature, fascinated as he was by electricity and electrical devices, but he had to succeed his father on the farm.

However, when in 1958 in a journal he saw a picture of the Atomium, without any hesitation he took the train to Brussels to see it in reality. He came back with a model of the Atomium, emptied a room of the farm, situated the model there and started constructing a kinetic art environment around it.

The first eight years he kept secret what he was doing. Even his family did not know about his  constructive activities and they must have wondered about his whereabouts when he was away from home visiting junk yards, second-hand dealers and flee markets to obtain devices he could use in his installation.

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Gsellmann has been working for more than twenty years on his creation. It ultimately became a 6 m long, 3 m high and 2 m wide construction, with 25 electric motors to make devices turn around, a lot of lamps to illuminate the construction, and whistles that blow at will.

Painted in bright colors, the installation all together presented a happy, cheerful merry-go-round world.

In 1968 Gsellmann for the first time put his machine into operation, but it used so much power that all supply of electricity to the village collapsed, putting all villagers in the dark.

In 1972 the installation got publicity in the local and regional press and from that moment on visitors began to flock.

Gsellmann died in 1981. It has been reported (by the family) that shortly before Gsellmann said he considered his creation as being completed

The site nowadays

Gsellmann's grandson, who also is named Franz and who in the early 1980s was in his 30s, continued to take care of the environment. A number of sponsors contributed to its maintenance and occasional restoration, a website was published and interesting adjacent activities were organized.

So, for example, it's just fascinating to learn that in 2008, when it was celebrated that fifty years earlier Gsellmann began his creation, a music composition by Peter Lackner was executed named Kanon für A, O & Gellman's Weltmaschine (A and O standing for alpha and omega, see picture above)

Festivities galore: in 2010 it was commemorated that Gsellmann was born a 100 years earlier..

The Weltmaschine has become a touristic attraction, visited by some 10.000 people yearly and the number is growing.

Situation in 2022

In November 2022 Tiramisu Bootfighter, who made a trip through Eastern Europe with his Galerie Ambulante, visited the site.

The photo he made, shows that Gsellmann's kinetic creation currently is still in good condition.

Documentation
* Official website
* Article (2012) on SPACES website 

* Facebook

Video
* The Weltmaschine in action on a video by Christian Eich (YouTube, 7'50", June 2014)

first published August 2009, last revised November 2022

Franz Gsellmann
Weltmaschine
Kaag 12
8332 Edelsbach, Steiermark, Austria
can be visited daily, 10-17, except Tuesdays