When I hear the phrase “suicide machines” I immediately think of Bruce Springsteen’s anthemic homage to Phil Spector, “Born to Run”:

In the day we sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through the mansions of glory in suicide machines

However, for artist Thijs Rijker, “Suicide Machines” are mechanical gizmos that are built to destroy themselves. According to the Bizzare Magazine website, “Rijker says his self-destruction pieces in a series called ‘Suicide Machines’ are “made to create empathy among humans, without human traits.”

Here are a couple of examples of Rijker’s morose mechanicals…

Suicide Machine V 2.0 from Thijs Rijkers on Vimeo.

and…

Suicide Machine Sand from Thijs Rijkers on Vimeo.

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