Ug=mgh

Gravity can be a downer, but this installation by Toronto studio Castor Design makes it a steampunk bookworm’s delight. Cranking a gear box at the base of the I-beam-framed contraption lifts a 91-kilogram marble cube on a pulley. When the cube reaches the apex, a switch engages a dynamo and the counterweight beings to fall … slowly. During the block’s mesmerizing 10- to 14-minute descent, this “gravity battery” powers a kitsch antique table lamp, the beam of the incandescent bulb becoming a joyous reward for the Sisyphean task at the outset. When the bulb goes out, the user has to wind it up all over again, but by that point most will have been won over by the alchemical charm of it all.

Project U_g=mgh Location Toronto, Canada Design Castor Design, Canada Team Brian Richer and Kei Ng with Marc Weersink and Nathan Watson