At first glance this piece appears to be a circular table with a black mirror finish. In reality the surface of the 'table' is pool of water with a circulating pump, with the water constantly overflowing around the edges and silently collected underneath the edge. The pump's outlet is damped to eliminate all ripples, sounds, or other clues that the surface is liquid. Because the water constantly overflows, the surface is clean at the molecular scale.

Several times per minute, tiny droplets of oil fall from a ceiling- mounted pump and land upon the water surface. Each droplet creates a rainbow explosion similar to soap-bubble colors. The color pattern expands to invisibility within a few seconds as the oil is swept over the edge.

The 'table' is mounted near the gallery wall. The wall is hung with black cloth (or painted flat black,) and a 3' lighted disk is positioned on the wall just above the 'table,' so the table acts as a reflecting pool. The black table surface is brightly lit by the white disk.

Mechanics:

• 120VAC required for the pump within the 'table' section.
• Tracklight spots needed for the wall-mounted 'disk' section, or perhaps some internal incandescent backlights within the hollow translucent disk would work better (120VAC required for lighting.)
• 120VAC needed for the ceiling-mounted metering pump assembly.
• The piece needs to be positioned away from strong air flows in order to prevent obvious ripples. This is probably not a big issue.

Maintenance:

The container for oil being collected under the table will need to be emptied every few days (or perhaps far less often.) The water supply will evaporate over a period of days and need refilling perhaps once per week.

http://amasci.com/art/pondmach/pond1.html
Created and maintained by Bill Beaty.
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