Planet (2013-) by Sachiko Kodama



Sachiko Kodama’s “Planet,” from her latest series of ferrofluid works, is a sculpture in which ferrofluid is manipulated into three-dimensional shapes within a closed glass sphere evocative of a fictional planet. The work transitions dynamically between precisely crafted patterns corresponding to its two main themes, “mountain” and “flower.”

The sculpture consists of a glass globe with a diameter of 15cm resting on a table. A specially designed magnet is placed underneath a table out of sight of the viewer. The sculpture’s visual patterns result from the interplay of a region of transparent liquid and a region of black ferrofluid contained within the globe.
When the magnetic field is in a non-activated state, the boundary between the black and transparent areas is perfectly flat. In the first stage of the activated state, the magnetic force generates long spikes that project downward from the bottom of the circular ferrofluid surface and then retract back into the black region after several seconds. This pattern of movement repeats, as if the ferrofluid were breathing. Gradually, the spikes collectively come to rest in the form of a jagged, inverted triangle, or “mountain”.

In the second stage, as the mountain pattern then proceeds to descendand spread out, a “flower” in the form of a lotus blossom takes shape at the bottom of the globe. After a sequence of movements repeats in a pattern once again suggestive of breathing, the “petals”of the flower grow thinnerand returnto the upper black region. As the “flower” gradually ceases its seriesof transformations, the globe finally returns to thehorizontally divided non-activated state. All of the shapes and movements are controlled by a computer program created by the artist.