Lubell uses the work of French scientist and chronophotographer Etienne-Jules Marey as a starting point for his pieces.

The 19th-century pioneer’s work captured the movements of the body, from the limbs to the heartbeat, which led to significant and pioneering developments in cardiology, aviation and cinematography.

Lubell’s own art examines the human as a machine, an area he became interested in when suffering from heart problems.

His other works in the exhibition will include Conservation of Intimacy (2005), a machine powered by two people rocking on a spring-loaded bench, . . . and the Synapse Sweetly Singing (2003), a model of the human brain based on a network of tin can telephones and a wooden coffin, and Etiology of Innocence (1999), a hand-cranked installation and clockwork recording device.

Also being featured are Cheek to Cheek (1999), a stool where visitors can sit and dance with themselves “cheek-to-cheek”, Aphasiogram (1999), a machine charting the visitor’s route to heaven, and A Prurient Interest (1999), a windowless box containing an itch you can never scratch.

Visitors will also be invited to create their own Lubellesque art works in FACT’s Media Lab.

The artist is currently designing a flat pack sculpture which members of the public can put together and leave in the gallery, where it will form part of a larger structure.

The exhibition comes under FACT’s “UNsustainable”theme for 2009, chosen to coincide with Liverpool’s Year of the Environment.

It opens on June 19 and will move to the V2 Institute for the Unstable Media in Rotterdam when it closes on September 6.