Planetary Mobile

The structure of the Planetary Mobiles allows pairs of wooden spheres to orbit a central, invisible line—similar to how the planets in our solar system orbit the Sun. To work, each sphere must be perfectly weighted to both counterbalance its partner and to travel its orbit on a flat plane. This precise balance is achieved by applying many coats of paint.

The resulting system is incredibly simple, but it yields pleasingly vast combinations of colored compositions. The spheres constantly interact with changes in the air pressure, wind, and humidity of their surrounding environment.

There's a specific joy in making the mobiles: they are super-analog, but generative. The spheres are free to create more compositions than my own brain could ever predict. I made them, but they surprise me. Because the mobiles are beholden to such fragile forces in the physical world, they dictate their own shape and speed. I control only their trajectory.