I love this work by artist Jesse Houlding:

The Magnet Drawing Machines are kinetic sculptures in which a series of magnets draws a circle on a sheet of paper with iron filings. The iron filings make different marks based on the strength of the magnetic field that holds them in place. As the magnets revolve, the friction from the paper causes the iron to collect in a tray at the base of the sculpture.

The paper is periodically removed from the sculpture and labeled with the dates indicating the duration of the mark making. The sheet is then replaced.

This work asks a question about what separates sculpture from other mediums. How does the piece function as both a sculpture, and as a sculpture that produces a drawing? What does that drawing represent? Is it a part of the sculpture after it is removed from the ‘apparatus’, or does it exist in its own right, separate from the process that created it.

I am interested in the accumulation of marks, of how time is evidenced in a work and the relationship between process and end-result.

[Via Ponoko]