Participatory Pinscreen Assembly

Ward Fleming

In 1976, while at the Art Institute of San Francisco, Ward Fleming designed a pinscreen which created perforations in paper using nail blocks. After experimenting with different materials and methods of creating the perforations, and inspired to explore the 3D potential of these new pinscreen techniques, Fleming settled on the use of metal pins set in mass-produced metal screens. In 1979, Fleming received a National Endowment for the Arts grant as Artist-in-Residence at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. It was here that he developed a pinscreen table display, an interactive exhibit which allowed visitors to create forms and images in the pinscreen by running their hands across the hanging pins. Fleming then developed a pinscreen whose complex patterns were formed by vibrations, a design then incorporated into the pinscreen table designs. Fleming installed several such pin-tables in science and children’s museums around the world. Fleming created a handheld model of the floor exhibit. These screens allow images to be made or erased from either side of the device and have sold an estimated 20 million copies.