There is nothing more mesmerizing, at least for me, than a Newton’s Cradle, that toy in which metal balls are suspended next to each other and hit each other ad infinitum. It’s incredible that such a simple device could capture one’s attention for minutes, nay, hours on end (again, speaking from personal experience, ha). Now, Japanese art student Yasutoki Kariya has found a way to make this child’s toy much more hypnotizing: with light.

Titled “Asobi”—Japanese for ‘play’—his installation features a series of eleven lightbulbs which move with the familiar click-clack of a Newton’s Cradle. In this version, though, the bulbs light up according to a computer controlled sequence, adding another dimension to the visualization of momentum and the transfer of energy.

Images: Yasutoki Kariya via Spoon Tamago

via Experiments in Motion

by AJ Artemel

posted in Uncategorized

tagged Art, gif, installation, lightbulbs, momentum, motion, newton's cradle, yasutoki kariya

more articles by AJ Artemel