Amsterdam Light Festival 2018:Charging-Pillars

Briefing

The Concept

Light is a form of electro-magnetic radiation, one of the fundamental forces of nature.

In Quantum-field-theory, an vacuum space without particles will bubble and fizz. Particles to pop in and out of existence, interacting and disturbing the fields of any particles, giving rise to the uncertainty in measurement. The message is the light being added by the environment of the structure, while the medium is the propagating, reflecting, interacting and absorbing the message. No really vacuum actually exists, the medium will bubble and fizz with uncertainty.

At a fundamental (quantum) level, light is both particle and wave. This work reacts to light from visitors phones or other small lights and uses that as input for a artistic simulation of how the medium of all reality.

The Theme

This work literally takes light as the message. Light from the visitors phone or other portable light transforms into the simulation of the quantum-mechanical properties of light. Waves of light can combine destructively provide the absence of light. In day to day life, light appears solid, it touches every object in reach. This work looks at the deeper structure of light, its wave patterns.

The visitor Experience

Visitors see a number pillars that 'capture' light and overhead a large collection of lights that provide the simulation. While the visitor illuminates the sensor a display light will grow brighter and change color. Visitors can release the collected light by removing the light source. The energy will join overhead where the light will bounce and ripple and interact as waves in the medium.

Due to the the uncertainty underlaying all of reality, the installation will always be in a state of unrest and disorder. Fizzing and bubbling, while still allowing clear interactions with visitors.

The Technical Principle

The main construction consists of a large set of empty office water-cooler bottles fitted out with two full-color LEDs allowing to independently illuminate both the bottle above and the terrain below the installation. Providing a double grid of interactive light medium.

Events in the medium medium and the pillars are visually connected, making the pillars and the visitors interactions part of the same conceptual space.

Budget

Main Variables

• #bottle_nr = Number of bottles. 200?
• #pillar_nr = Number of Pillars. 3

Items

• Water cooler bottles = €2
• Lights (2*#bottle_nr) = €10
• Electronics + per_bottle_cabling = €5
  • PSU = #bottle_nr / 50 * €40
• Rent of scaffolding for the exhibition: ???

Work estimate

• One off
  • software: 40H ?
  • Electrical design

• Construction of lattice?
  • 80H ?

• Time per bottle (at scale)
  • PCB: (10/60)h
  • Cabling (5/60)h
  • fitting (5/60)h

Work activities

Construction of

• Grid of bottles
  • The lattice.
  • Adhering the bottles to the lattice.
• The pillars
  • Light sensors
  • Charge lights
  • Connection to the gird
• Electronics
  • Solution design
  • Getting the lights + electronics in the bottles?
  • Wiring it all up.

Brainstorms, dumps and questions

• Getting things water resistant is going to be an issue.
  • What connectors between bottles are we going to use?
• Who knows about these kind of constructions?
  • Use scaffolding beams for the main construction?
• How much light (in watts) in a single bottle is needed?
• Coat the body of the bottle in semi-translucent white/light-gray.
• The pillar is just a bottle that the user can set the intensity to. It simply has neighbor bottles.
• Grid Light control
  • Centralized and Distribute signal
  • Every bottle individually + signaling of light of neighbors and reaction to that (= conceptually nicest, closest to reality, updating needs attention)
  • Per small group of bottles.

Power

• PSU of 500W is €40. If we average 10W max per bottle (we don't do 100% on all bottles at the same time) then 50 bottles per PSU.

Bring to the meeting

• At least one Water cooler bottle with lights installed