ADA: the helium-filled pencil of the future by Poland’s Karina Smigla-Bobinski

Polish artist Karina Smigla-Bobinski describes ADA as “an artwork with a soul”.

A helium-filled sphere studded with charcoal spikes, it floats freely across the white confines of its rooms, making marks or lines each time it bounces against a wall.

Humans might try to control or guide it: but ADA’s work is very much its own.

Visitors can’t guess how the sphere will express itself, says Smigla-Bobinski. She compares ADA to a computer, working to an algorithm: it might have been set on a certain course, there’s no guarantee what the results will be.

“However hard a visitor tries to control ADA, he will soon notice that ADA is an independent performer, studding the originally white walls with drawings and signs,” she says.

Originally created in 2011, ADA has since traveled the world, appearing in São Paulo, Liverpool and Berlin.