Rolling ball sculpture

{{Short description|Kind of sculpture and toy}} {{Redirect|Marble run|other uses|Marble (toy)}} {{More citations needed|date=August 2010}} thumb|A simple wooden toy marble run

A '''rolling ball sculpture''' (sometimes referred to as a '''marble run''', '''ball run''', '''gravitram''', '''''kugelbahn''''' (German: 'ball track'), or '''rolling ball machine''') is a form of kinetic art – an art form that contains moving pieces – that specifically involves one or more rolling balls.

A version where marbles compete in a race to win is called a '''marble race''', in which the marbles go through simple or complex labyrinths, seeing which one is the winner, or even loser. The YouTube channel Jelle's Marble Runs has popularized this idea over the years, especially gaining traction during the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020. Through his video series dubbed "Marble League", also known as the "MarbleLympics", he recorded and uploaded marbles racing through tracks, with them resembling Olympic sports and were recorded in a sports broadcast-like manner (a commentator to educate viewers on what's happening, crowd noises and other SFX as if it's a real like sporting event, etc).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-03-22 |title=Marble Racing Is the Sport That Can Save Us From Losing Our Marbles |url=https://www.si.com/more-sports/2020/03/22/marble-racing-jelle-coronavirus-sports-greg-woods-commentator |access-date=2025-10-30 |website=SI |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Addley |first=Esther |date=2020-06-01 |title=On the run: lack of sport drives fans to madcap world of marble racing |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jun/01/on-the-run-lack-of-sport-drives-fans-to-madcap-world-of-marble-racing |access-date=2025-10-30 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

==Toys== {{expand section|date=November 2023}} {{No footnotes|section|date=November 2023}} The regular rolling ball sculpture rolling ball structure is usually constructed out of wood, plastic, or metal, with the balls used traditionally being small glass spheres. The objective of it is to load a ball into the sculpture, and then allow gravity to make its way down, usually going through various forms of tracks, like, for example, a long twisty channel leading to a shallow funnel.

==World records== [[File:HK TST East 香港科學館 Hong Kong Science Museum HKSM exhibition April 2021 SS2 16.jpg|thumb|Small part of tallest rolling ball sculpture, Energy Machine, in Hong Kong Science Museum since 1991]] [[File:Watching the machine.jpg|thumb|right|People watching George Rhoads's 1983 rolling ball sculpture ''42nd Street Ballroom'' in the Port Authority Bus Terminal]] {{redirect|Energy machine|Joseph Newman's DC engine|Newman's energy machine}}

The tallest rolling ball sculpture in the world, at {{convert|22|m|ft}} tall, is named the ''Energy Machine'', and located in the Hong Kong Science Museum in Hong Kong.<ref>Knikkers, Jelle (October 28, 2015) [https://web.archive.org/web/20190328004503/http://www.knikkerbaan.nl/en/knikkerbaan-records/ "Marble Run Records"] ''Jelle's Marble Runs'' Accessed:December 31, 2019</ref> The structure consists of two towers, balls moving among them.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiHpbIq4pjI |title=能量穿梭機 Energy Machine |date=2022-08-28 |last=香港科學館 Hong Kong Science Museum |access-date=2025-07-21 |via=YouTube}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Energy Machine {{!}} Hong Kong Science Museum |url=https://hk.science.museum/en/web/scm/exhibition/em.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250601024830/https://hk.science.museum/en/web/scm/exhibition/em.html |archive-date=2025-06-01 |access-date=2025-07-21 |website=hk.science.museum |language=en}}</ref> It is also the largest of its kind in the world.<ref name=":0" /> The machine contains stream of ball, demonstrating energy conversion, from potential energy to kinetic, sound, light energy, with balls rolling along tracks.<ref name=":0" />

According to Guinness World Records, the longest marble run is 2,858.9 meters long and was completed in Switzerland in September 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Longest marble run |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-marble-run |access-date=2023-03-23 |website=Guinness World Records |language=en-gb}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Marble Run Records – Jelle's Marble Runs |url=https://jellesmarbleruns.com/marble-run-records/ |access-date=2023-03-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240920213922/https://jellesmarbleruns.com/marble-run-records/ |archive-date=2024-09-20 |language=en-US |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.rollingballsculpture.com.au/ David Morrell (sculptor)] * [https://rollingballsculpture.com/ Matthew Gaulden]

Category:Modern art Category:Types of sculpture Category:Kinetic art