Magnetic Letterpress is a ferrofluid printing engine that drives 180 rare earth magnets against a reactive pool of black oil. The magnetic fields extrude messages in the oil that are designed to facilitate a conversation around the use of fossil fuels and their impact on climate change.

The letterpress features 10 handbuilt machines crafted out of cold casted aluminum that each contain 18 motors which raise and lower magnets against a surface covered in ferrofluid.

You can see two of the machines close up in the second video along with an early version of the software that controls them.

This is currently a work in progress with my collaborator Graham Plumb and is scheduled to be completed later this summer.