Ken Nicol’s streamlined small-scale sculptures have an air of sweet futility. The question of “function” is gently posed in Small Boxes That Tick, stainless steel cubes fitted with clock mechanisms. The absurd side of existence as expressed through Nicol’s machine aesthetic echoes our sometimes precarious relationship with the technology we’ve created. [Via the excellent Canadian Crafts Federation/Fédération canadienne des métiers d’art.](http://www.canadiancraftsfederation.ca/)