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While there were a lot of cool things at the Frieze Art Fair in New York this year, Melter 3-D blew them out of the water. The animated sculpture by Takeshi Murata was debuted by Ratio 3 and is one of the coolest things we've seen in a long time. Technically a zoetrope, the metallic sphere gives off the illusion of melting liquid flowing across its surface. It looks so real that we have a hard time understanding how it could be a tangible art installation.
Murata is known for his colorful digital art pieces that reconfigure animation as we know it. He uses hand-drawn animation along with computer-generated images to expose the flaws within video technology, but he's really outdone himself with Melter 3-D.
Like zoetropes, the installation gives the illusion of motion from something static — the main difference is that Melter is actually a 3-D object that spins. With the help of strobe lights, the ball looks like its continuously melting in on itself. According to The Creators Project, Murata spent months figuring out the details and with the help of a fabricator and mechanical engineers who usually work on Hollywood CGI flicks, the strange sculpture was made a reality.
