Mirror, Mirror on the Balls

Photograph by Nigel Cox Photograph by Nigel Cox

Sometimes a piece of technology captures our eye for its sheer, playful ingenuity alone. The brainchild of New York artist Danny Rozin, the Shiny Balls Mirror is an array of 900 tubes, each containing a chrome ball that moves forward and back on a servomotor. Each ball functions as a single pixel (farther forward = lighter; farther back = darker). The assembly acts as a monitor of sorts, fed by a video camera at its center. Stand in front, and it creates a dynamic portrait in chrome (try viewing this page from a few feet away for the full effect); each individual ball also reflects your image on a smaller scale. Rozin calls it a "game upon a game."