If you happen to visit New Hampshire, specifically just outside Strafford, you will discover that there is a secret wonderland tucked neatly in the forest filled with giant flip books, a testament of simple innovation and artistry.
The secret wonderland is actually not a secret but it is a summer camp dedicated to teaching kids to tap into their artistry and creativity. The place, Beam Camp, looked like your typical summer camp but once you go around the surrounding area, you will notice giant metal boxes scattered in various points of the camp.
Upon closer inspection, these giant metal boxes actually turn out to be giant flip books, called Universal Play Machines, filled with 50 drawings about nature, like birds and trees. Some have illustrations of bird behaviors. The flip books are fitted with a system of gears which allow the person to flip the images by using a handle. Just like the flip books you used to have when you were a kid, the giant flip books also use simple animation but on a much bigger scale.
What makes these flip books stand out is that during the day, the side panels of these giant installations reflect the images of the forests that surround them. At night, the LED lights that were installed light the flip books and reveal the mechanism inside. Thanks to the one-way mirror film which were lined with strips of LEDs inside.
According to Chee Kit-lai, the director of Mobile Studio, the London-based architecture firm which designed and installed the flip books, these are the biggest flip books in the world as far as giant flip books go. The design of these kinetic sculptures were inspired by split-flap displays, the signs you see on train stations and airports which spin to display the departure and arrival of the vehicles. Unfortunately, such signs are beginning to become rare these days.
