"Artist Jo Fairfax created automated drawing machines inspired by Japanese zen gardens. The artist’s programming experience coupled with his appreciation for the sensibility of zen gardens, led him to design this mechanical artwork. 

The machines generate shapes in iron filings, in response to people approaching them. Fairfax programmed an Arduino Uno to set off a mechanism with integrated magnets below the platform of iron filings. Each time a viewer approaches the machine, it starts to ‘draw’ and agitate the black particles, moving them around the platforms."

Learn more here: https://www.designboom.com/art/jo-fairfax-automated-mechanical-japanese-zen-gardens-05-17-2019/