Gravity forever keeps our feet flat on the ground, but it’s tough to see the “wow” factor of something we live with every day. But Shizouka-based designer Kouichi Okamoto of Kyouei Design found a way to reveal the wonder in the ever-present force with Magnetic Field Record, a mobile artwork that offers a new way to look at what keeps us from floating away.
The overturned bottle on one side of Okamoto’s mobile contraption is filled with jet black sumi ink, balanced by a big magnet on the other end. Ink drops slowly drip out — slowly and spread out at first, then more closely together — as the whole device slowly spins around; the shift in weight then causes the bottle to raise up, which shrinks the diameter of the circle.
It’s beautiful and kind of calming to watch, with the resulting work of art acting as a lovely visual depiction of Earth’s attractive force. Kyouei has a bunch more interesting experiments on its site — well worth a click through. [Spoon & Tamago]