Living creatures form symbiotic relationships with the world around them, but the life of a man-made object is almost inherently one of subservience and utility. Artist Dan Grayber wanted to see what objects would look like if that wasn't the case — and he's put together sets of mechanical parts, all meant solely to support their own existence. The result is a series of experiments in tension, where colorful, complex machines dangle carefully from glass enclosures, held largely by spring-loaded stoppers pressed against their surrounding walls.

"My sculptures are invented only to sustain themselves, functioning as self-resolving problems," Grayber writes. "The result is an object that has been invented only to compensate for the complications created by its own existence." More photos of Grayber's sculptures are available at his website, and several will be on display at the Johansson Projects gallery in Oakland, California starting September 26th.