“Loop” is part hamster wheel, part flip book. (Photo courtesy of CityCenterDC)

They look sort of like the engine at the end of Snowpiercer, but the huge wheels now outside CityCenterDC are actually an art installation.

Loop, an interactive piece by Olivier Girouard and Jonathan Villeneuve, opened Wednesday outside the mixed-use development. CityCenter has long draped its Palmer Alley (which includes out-of-our-paygrade shopping like Louis Vuitton and Hermes, as well as lauded restaurant Centrolina) with seasonal art, including beach balls, autumn leaves, and paper snowflakes, and has a digital art installation at its entrance. But Loop is the first piece of art you can actually get inside.

The piece consists of six zoetropes—giant versions of the Victorian-era toy that used light and rapidly-spinning images to create early moving pictures. When you take a seat and row the lever, it starts spinning the wheel and activates lights and music, creating a short film based on a fairy tale. It’s part rowing machine, part flip book, and part hamster wheel.

Loop was created for the 2016 Luminothérapie, a light festival in Montreal, and has since traveled to New York. Bring popcorn, and check it out in D.C. through September 16.

Loop is on view at CityCenter (10th and I streets NW) through September 16