science

Funky Bones

Funky Bones is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Funky Bones rather than just read about it. In short: Funky Bones is a public artwork by Atelier Van Lieshout, a Dutch artist collective led by Joep van Lieshout, located in the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, which is on the grounds of Newfields in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States.

Key takeaways

Funky Bones belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Funky Bones to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Funky Bones from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Funky Bones is a public artwork by Atelier Van Lieshout, a Dutch artist collective led by Joep van Lieshout, located in the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, which is on the grounds of Newfields in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The artwork, primarily made from fiberglass, consists of twenty white and black bone-shaped benches.

Description Funky Bones is situated in the Meadow region just south of the lake at the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park. It is a site-specific artwork consisting of 20 white bone-shaped benches inscribed with black drawings of bones that together form a large stylized human skeleton. The artwork was constructed primarily from fiberglass, plywood, and concrete. Each bench is a fiberglass shell filled with a lightweight foam material. The fiberglass surface has been impregnated with pigment, carved, and coated in polyester resin. Plywood was used only during the detailing process of the black bone segments and is not visible in the completed artwork. The concrete component for this artwork is not visible but rather serves as a structural aid, anchoring and securing the individual benches into the ground. A standard ready-mix concrete was used for this application. The skeleton is positioned with its arms spread out horizontally while the legs point straight down. The individual benches range in both length and width, but all are approximately 26 inches in height. The artwork was fabricated in Atelier Van Lieshout's studio in Rotterdam and shipped to the Indianapolis Museum of Art where it was assembled by the design and installation crew.

Historical information Funky Bones was installed at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in May 2010 and is currently on temporary loan. The artwork arose from many disparate interests of Joep van Lieshout, the founder and head designer of AVL. These include human anatomy and the history of the site. Concerning the original concept and inspiration behind Funky Bones, Joep van Lieshout stated:

I came up with [this] design that is not only a site specific artwork referring to the history of the continent, but also provides a function and will improve the stay of the park's visitors. Even as a child I knew the state Indiana and Indianapolis as an exotic place where the 'Indians' came from and were living, and even though this is not true, it is important for my proposition. Another field of interest is the history of art and especially in early developments of art from primitive and native cultures. In early art forms, techniques and skills were not so developed and the artworks were made in a very basic way, therefore art had a direct relation to the people, its time and environment. Native American art, design, and architecture produced beautiful artifacts, religion, and lifestyle, but after the appearance of the 'more advanced' culture from the east the original inhabitants were moved around and dispersed. The very few things that remained are their cultural heritage and artifacts scattered around. At this time of rapid production and consumption, their primitive lifestyle, close to nature, seems to become a necessary utopia. The dislocated Funky Bone benches installed in the park stand symbolic for the leftovers of their sold culture and the spread of Native Americans over the continent. In addition to resonating with the location's history, Funky Bones also has the functional purpose of providing an ideal spot for visitors to sit, picnic, lounge, or climb. Joep van Lieshout observed visitors sitting on rocks during visits to the site, and decided to provide them with more comfortable seating arrangements in order to facilitate interaction, both among viewers as well as between viewer and art. This degree of interactivity, and even fun, makes Funky Bones extremely child-friendly.

Artist Atelier Van Lieshout (AVL) is a multidisciplinary company that operates internationally in the field of contemporary art, design, and architecture. Joep van Lieshout (born 1963), founder of AVL, is a Dutch artist born in Ravenstein, The Netherlands. He received his formal education and training from the Academy of Modern Art in Rotterdam (1980–1985), Ateliers '63 in Haarlem (1985–1987), and from the Villa Arson in Nice, France (1987). Joep van Lieshout formed the AVL studio group in 1995 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, where the company continues to design and fabricate their widely exhibited works. Atelier Van Lieshout has attained international recognition for objects-based projects that balance on the boundary between art, architecture and design. Recurring themes in the work of AVL include self-sufficiency, power, politics, and the more classical themes of life and death. The name Atelier Van Lieshout emphasizes the fact that, although Joep van Lieshout founded and leads the collective, the work produced stems from the creative impulses of the entire team. For Funky Bones, AVL's most relevant recurring themes are domestication, politics, complex functioning systems, and the re-contextualization of familiar, domestic objects. The Atelier van Lieshout claims to make no distinction between "real artworks" and "just building something for someone." The studio group focuses on creating artworks whose design principles challenge conventional ideas of utility and functionality by reinventing how the viewer perceives or approaches an object and the environment in which it is placed. This is achieved by the implementation of non-traditional materials and color palettes, odd or unusual subject matter, and through the strategic positioning or locale of the artwork. Funky Bones is impossible to see in its entirety except at a distance, preferably from above. Moving close enough to actually interact with it produces an entirely different perspective.

Condition In general, the bones require regular cleaning in order to maintain their white color. Instrumental analysis involving the artwork's color and gloss levels has been recorded for future reference.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Funky Bones

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Funky Bones claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Funky Bones before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Funky Bones ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Funky Bones

In research: Funky Bones appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Funky Bones in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Funky Bones is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2010 establishments in Indiana, 2010 sculptures, Conceptual art, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Funky Bones outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Funky Bones” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Funky Bones in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Funky Bones means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Funky Bones out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Funky Bones in simple terms?

Why does Funky Bones matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Funky Bones?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Funky Bones.