By Evan Ackerman
This dynamic sculpture, by Sachiko Kodama, is based on interactions between electromagnets and ferrofluid, the same technology behind the Snoil display. Here’s a video of the sculpture in the above picture in action:
A different, more recent sculpture (based around a spiral tower) is shown in a video here. Pictures and videos of other sculptures are available from the artist’s website, and if you got a kick out of the first one, the rest are definitely worth checking out.
I’m wondering if you discovered this at the Maker Faire? I saw it there this year and it was definitely one of my favorites, and that’s saying something. It is really a breath-taking reminder that magnetism is crazy-effing-magic. Magic, I tell you.