Pulsar (2008) Sachiko Kodama

 When I made my first ferrofluid sculpture (Morpho Tower) my purpose was to create an sculpture with fluid surfaces. But this aim was difficult to achieve so I began with a very simple, geometric conical shape, which of course the ‘Spiral’ is an important motif of.  In the Morpho Tower piece, fluid moves up without any mechanical force. Its movement is solely controlled by an unseen magnetic attraction, which also produces spikes to cover the whole surface of the geometrical shape.
I wanted to realize a more dynamic morphological texture, which changes within real time, and create a dynamic sculpture that presented this morphing textural fluid accurately.

In this work, I made a small iron sculpture in the form of a human body missing its head. A brass tube is positioned above the neck from which ferrofluid pours down. A magnetic force protrudes the ferrofluid into a flower-like shape with many spikes. The spikes created are the petals of this flower. If the magnetic force is gradually weakened, the petals fall down according to the contour of the metallic body, as if it follows the draping of an ancient toga. The decelerating speed of the ferrofluid and magnetic force are controlled to create a dynamic textural change that mimics the grainy surface of moss or goosebumps on human skin. This sculpture stands in a slowly undulating pool of black liquid.