This is a Sisyphus machine, and it is the most mesmerising thing you will see today.

The above video is a ten-hour time lapse of the machine doing it’s thing (which is essentially making pretty patterns in the sand).

Magnets are used to slowly move metallic balls around the sand-filled dish in the machine created by artist Bruce Shapiro.

Shapiro has spent almost 25 years writing the code that creates the beautiful patterns.


The name comes from the myth of Sisyphus – the man who was forced to roll a giant boulder up a hill only to have it roll back down over and over again for eternity.



While all Sisyphus machines in existence currently reside in museums, Shapiro is currently working on a smaller version that he hopes consumers will be able to have in their own homes.

Just don’t let your cat near it… you don’t want this thing turned into a giant litter tray.

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