Morpho Towers: ferrofluid sculptures that groove to the music

There's just something irresistible about random objects that get down to surrounding beats, and the Morpho Towers: Two Standing Spirals installation is quite the eye-catcher indeed. The pair of ferrofluid sculptures were deigned to stand in a platter of ferrofluid and move "synthetically to music," which translates into a magnetic field being generated by sound and creating autonomous art. Subsequently, the towers react by attracting "spikes of ferrofluid" from the bottom-up, which can mold itself and transform into a variety of stunning shapes. The spikes themselves are designed to "rotate around the edge of the spiral cone, becoming large or small depending on the strength of the magnetic field," and by utilizing time series metadata ingrained in the music, the designers can create (and control) more dramatic scenes on the towers' sides. So if you're interested in what a magnetic Christmas tree might look like, be sure to take a peek after the jump for the artwork in motion.

[Via SciFiTech]

[Tom @ Apr 5th 2007 8:38PM]

so cool
magnetic liquid ftw
oh how i want one

[MVanDam @ Apr 5th 2007 9:22PM]

New-age lava lights
Magnetic towers dancing
Vegas is calling

[Nick @ Apr 5th 2007 9:22PM]

I was talking to my girlfriend on the phone, internationally, and i clicked the play button... She thought I'd hung up, i just got quiet as my jaw dropped. I want one of these. Please?

[Brian @ Apr 5th 2007 9:42PM]

perhaps a starting point for DAPRA's shape shifting "chembot".
Better start looking for a John Connor, just in case...

[ele©tro @ Apr 5th 2007 9:52PM]

Is that the new Björk video? : )

[jneedleman @ Apr 19th 2007 1:46AM]

This looks like the twin fembot mating scene from "All Is Full of Love." When Chris Cunningham watches this, he probably packs wood.

Men in raincoats will want to marry vats of ferrofluid.

[saq @ Apr 5th 2007 11:00PM]

Why do I think that is both one of the most awesomeest things I have ever seen and simultaneously somewhat frightening?

[John @ Apr 5th 2007 11:06PM]

That video looks like the visuals were independent of the music and sped up. I'm not saying that they conclusively were, but the ripples don't look quite kosher, although that could just be a characteristic of whatever that fluid is.

[dan kavanagh @ Apr 5th 2007 11:26PM]

make your own ferrofluid.

SAE10 motor oil
laser printer toner

woo

[Juaquin @ Apr 5th 2007 11:46PM]

I have to agree - while that is possibly the most awesome thing I have seen in months, something about it is really creepy too. Like it could gain self-awareness and attack at any moment.

[Paul @ Apr 6th 2007 12:06AM]

One step closer to T-1000!

[TheChaz @ Apr 6th 2007 1:02AM]

This fluid has been in the shocks of high-end cars for several years. The first use was on the later C5 Corvettes, I believe. A much more practical use, of course; when you apply current, the fluid becomes more resistant, providing for shocks that can vary their absorption and rebound characteristics from moment to moment.

[Eric @ Apr 6th 2007 1:23AM]

Wow...simply wow.
That ws absolutely amazing.

[Bloobie @ Apr 6th 2007 1:31AM]

Looks cool, but the sculpture utilizes what amounts to preprogrammed music. They add metatag data to the music to keep it all in sync and working the way they want it to. The metatag data includes voltage information to control the two metal towers.

[Branden Turner @ Apr 6th 2007 1:49AM]

Thats so cool that endgadget has this now. Sachiko Kodama came to my college last monday and talked in a thick japanese accent about how and why she makes these. They were increadible to see for an hour in high quality videos on a 30 foot screen. The most interesting thing about her I felt was that she has a bachelors in Physics, a masters in fine arts, and I think it was a PhD in Thermo Dynamics. Oh, and, this was a much more interesting installation. http://www.kodama.hc.uec.ac.jp/protrudeflow/movies/wmv/profloD.wmv

[johnzilla @ Apr 6th 2007 2:29AM]

Kinda cool, I guess. I noticed absolutely no apparent correlation between the music and what was happening on the cones, though.

"which translates into a magnetic field being generated by sound and creating autonomous art."

Didn't look autonomous to me at all...if it was autonomous, it would have been reacting to the different sound waves. Instead it just looked like someone programmed some cool stuff and overlaid some music. Cool, but not earth-shattering cool.

[Lars Groeger @ Apr 6th 2007 5:43AM]

The this envokes in some people is just the diffuse memory on TERMINATOR 2...And im sure thats what they are really working on here....just covering it up as an art Project HAAA! You cannot fool me !!
( Yeah im pretty sure paranoid :D )

[Steven Smethurst @ Apr 6th 2007 5:56AM]

There is anther project that uses this ferrofluid called SnakeOil ( http://www.abluestar.com/blog/snoil-a-physical-display-based-on-ferrofluid/ ) it uses an array of electric magnets and some ferrofluid to play the classic snake game.

[Lucas @ Apr 6th 2007 6:58AM]

Now all we need is nanobots capable of linking and emitting electromagnetic fields suspended in this fluid .... instant shapeshifting killer liquid :)

[Genome @ Apr 6th 2007 2:08PM]

Awesome, what makes the spikes differentiate themselves like that?

[Burnin' Hank Nododendrite @ Apr 19th 2007 1:56AM]

This looks like the twin fembot mating scene from "All Is Full of Love." When Chris Cunningham watches this, he probably packs wood.

Men in raincoats will want to marry vats of ferrofluid.