If you’ve never heard of “silicon art” before, prepare to be amazed.
In short, it is the practise of carving microscopic works of art on to the tiny circuit boards that sit inside the gadgets we use every day.
The people who design those boards have to work with the teeny and the tiny every day. And just like anyone else, they want to have something to liven up the working day. Silicon art is one way to do that.
The team at Chipworks were intrigued to discover some entertaining chip art inside a new Samsung Galaxy tablet computer they were pulling apart. The words, only visible through a microscope, said: “If you can read this, you are much too close.” Which is probably a fair point.
That’s not the only art inside this device. There’s also a dude playing drums, and a happy hippo with a hat on.
There’s plenty more silicon art in the Chipworks gallery. Makes you wonder doesn’t it: what minuscule artworks are you carrying around in your pocket or bag right now? And how many of them? Every one of us has become a walking art gallery, and we didn’t even know it.