The Rocking Machine sculpture by Herman Makkink as seen in A Clockwork Orange

Rocking Machine is a glossy white sculpture by Herman Makkink prominently featured in the home of the yoga-loving character ‘CatLady’ in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. The sculpture is of a male phallus and female buttocks combined into one conversation-inducing piece.

We encounter Rocking Machine as the antisocial Alex and his gang of droogs invade the grand Woodmere Health Farm, where we find Ms. Weathers practicing yoga in a green leotard and white tights amidst a vivid setting adorned with bold, highly sexual pop art paintings by Herman Makkink’s brother, Cornelius Makkink, alongside exercise equipment and an abundance of white and black cats. Positioned on an antique wooden console amidst this striking scene, the Rocking Machine sculpture, resembling a phallus, unexpectedly becomes Alex’s weapon of choice.

Originally crafted in an edition of six in 1969, Kubrick himself selected Rocking Machine for this scene in A Clockwork Orange, during his visit to Herman Makkink’s St Katharine’s Docks studios while searching for artwork for his upcoming film. Alongside Christ Unltd. (a chorus line of four dancing Christ figures) and paintings by Cornelis (Kees) Makkink, Kubrick chose the Rocking Machine for its memorable impact.

The film’s success and the controversy it stirred propelled Herman Makkink’s two sculptures to iconic status.

Rocking Machine White Edition (2021), limited edition

We are thrilled to announce that after extensive F&F-style research and numerous discussions, the Herman Makkink Estate has entrusted Film and Furniture as a representative of Rocking Machine. Official limited editions of the Herman Makkink Rocking Machine, White Edition (2021), are now available through Film and Furniture.

Specifications:
• Materials: Fibreglass, polyester, with a kinetic mechanism inside
• Size – 76cm(l) x 35cm(h) x 45cm(w)
• Edition of 100 + 10 A.P.’s
• Handmade in Amsterdam from the original artist’s mould.
• Signed, numbered and dated C.O.A. by the Herman Makkink Estate with a certificate of authenticity.

Price available on request.

Rocking Machine can be shipped worldwide (with free shipping in the Netherlands).

These sculptures are handmade in The Netherlands and produced to order, so please allow up to 9 weeks.

Each Rocking Machine is handmade and may have traces of the handicraft manufacturing process.
The Rocking Machine is protected under national and international copyright and other intellectual property laws.

For current prices, details and shipping quotes, please fill in this contact form with your delivery address.

Regarding Kubrick’s selection of this artwork, Hermann Makkink remarked: “They formed part of my studio work at the time, and, after seeing them there, Kubrick wanted to use them for the film because they probably had the futuristic look he and his wife wanted. In the late sixties and early seventies, we, London based artists, felt terribly hip. We didn’t want to fight the establishment so much as shock them. Pop Art was in full swing and so was the sexual revolution, so I combined a penis with a beautifully shaped female rear in fibre glass. I thought this would be really shocking. I thought I could make the object move by constructing a heavy pendulum swing inside. To my surprise I found that it made an irregular movement, so I exaggerated that by adding extra weights in various places. That resulted in Rocking Machine’s specific, jerky motion.” 

Interestingly the dancing Christs and the Rocking Machine by Herman Makkink also featured in the Tinto Brass film Dropout (1970), starring Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero. Brass was also considered at one point for directing A Clockwork Orange.