Andrei ducu predescu masters thesis light art %22neo david%22

Andrei-Ducu Predescu

Masters Thesis

Light Art Installation

“Neo-David�

The anthropomorphic representation of form and movement through light An investigation in the conection between art, technology and light

Program: Ms Lighting Design Semester: 4. semester Title: Light Art Installation Project Period: February - June 2016 Supervisor: Georgios Triantafyllidis Semester Coordinator: Ellen Kathrine Hansen Secretary: Lisbeth NykjĂŚr Pages: 120 Finished: 31.10.2016

Andrei-Ducu Predescu

Masters Thesis Light Art Installation

“Neo-David�

The anthropomorphic representation of form and movement through light An investigation in the conection between art, technology and light

Introduction

Part one

Foreword Readers guide Thesis Struture Motivation

Initial Research Chapter 1 Theoretical discussion on the development of art Chapter 2 Lighting design in contemporary art Chapter 3 Does lighting design facilitate the development of new forms of art expression

Projection

Digital control

Part two

8 9 10 13

17 20

29 30 32

Problem Area Chapter 4 Properties of art installations Chapter 5 Issues of form, scale, shadow and motion

Form

Scale

Shadow

Motion Chapter 6 Can we create a light installation capable of reproducing antropomorphical form and movement?

36 42 42 44 46 48

51

Part three

Design Chapter 7 Concept Emergence Chapter 8 Location and Context Chapter 9 Design Idea Chapter 10 Available Technology

Matrix control system

Matrix light “Pixels�

Depth Imaging

Motion Tracking Chapter 11 Design Development

Human scale

Lighting elements

Scanning Pillars

Elevation Chapter 11 Prototype

Digital prototype

Physical prototype

Part four

54 59 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 76 80 82 84 86 86 88

Final discussion Evaluation Future Work Conclusion Bibliography Appendix

94 97 99 100 104

Introduction

Foreword

The following paper is the culmination of almost a year of reflexions, contradictory discussions, frustrating experimentations and many sleepless nights. It has been a means to an end by which of course I mean the end of my education as a Lighting Designer.

However arduous this journey has been, it did not lack in moments of great satisfaction and pleasure, from finding a small article about a light installation developed by an anonymous author, to long walks inside the echoing galleries of the Rotterdam Kunsthal, from dancing like a mad man in front of a Kinect so I could calibrate a distance, to just wiring an LED badly to find out if it could explode, at the end of eight hour soldering session. This has been one of the most intense learning experience I have undergone so far.

This work is ideal for a curious mind wanting to find out more about the use of light in the context of art, while at the same time offering a practical look at the development of an interactive light sculpture. If you love art and philosophy, if you like building things that light up and are passionate about interactivity, then you will have a blast while reading this paper.

Of course this endeavour could not have been possible without the support of some truly remarkable people for which I am blessed to have meet. It would be unspeakable of me to not mention them here.

Georgios Triantafyllidis, my thesis supervisor, thank you for all the time spent answering my question and for allowing me the necessary time to make this a reality.

Julius Kirchert, thank you for believing in me and supporting the decisions I have taken no matter how insane they might have been.

Thank you Stavros, Leo, Akshey, Diana, Dimitrie, Horia, Roxana, Quentin, Patrick, Teodora, Louise, Mette, Alex, Vanessa, Lisa for putting up with what can sometimes be described as an insufferable attitude.

Thank you MVRDV for allowing me to finish what I have started.

Last but not least I would like to thank my mother Camelia and my girlfriend Benedikte who have constantly believed in me and in this project even when I did not.

PS: Stav, Don’t worry I’m bringing back your Kinect soon!

Andrei Ducu Predescu

8

Introduction

Readers guide

The primary goal of this thesis was to observe the transitory properties of art and technology, and the symbiotic relationship between the two while having as a main focus the creative use of light by artists and designers. Dealing both with philosophical discussions and technical knowledge the paper at hand is a short guide through the world of light-art that culminates in the theoretical development of an interactive light sculpture and the actual construction of a physical prototype required as a proof of concept.

Beginning with the prehistoric age, we take a look at a parallel evolution of art and technology and how principles and methods developed in both fields have overlapped giving rise to entirely new ideas. Moving forward through millennia to the contemporary age we will analyse the implementation of lighting technologies in the works of some of the most well known creators and makers in the art world, while at the same time trying to understand the meaning behind their creations. We will the try to understand what the broad properties of art installations are and which are the major issues when dealing with light.

Using the knowledge acquired through our investigation we will then proceed in establishing a concept that will be developed into a design.

We will then test our design by building a prototype and finish the thesis with a final discussion upon the findings of our work, possible design improvements and conclusions.

When reading this paper prior knowledge regarding art history or philosophy are not required but can be of use in understanding many of the references presented. However basic knowledge of lighting design, architecture and media technology are needed in order to properly grasp the full extent of the paper.

The thesis is accompanied by a presentation video which was a mandatory requirement when handing in this academic work. The link to this video can be found below.

https://youtu.be/8jPgqz8zG5U

9

Thesis structure

The following brief description provides an overview of the thesis structure and content of the individual chapters.

Initial Research Theoretical discussion on the development of art In this chapter a theoretical discussion is launched around the idea that art and technology have evolved as a result of of symbiotic relationship between the two. Beginning with prehistoric time to modern day the chapter tries to address this issues through philosophical references and historic facts.

Lighting design in contemporary art This chapter is an analysis of the contemporary art world in particular looking at works that deal with light. The analysis is made from an artistic perspective, the interaction between the public and work as well as a technical breakdown of the methods employed in developing it.

Does lighting design facilitate the development of new forms of artists expression?

In this chapter we look at new technologies in particular, projection and digital control methods, which have been widely employed by artists and lighting designers. It is here that we try to understand if emerging technologies have had an impact on how creators developed their work and if it has given birth to a new way of expressing themselves.

10 Introduction

Problem Area Properties of art installations It is in this chapter that we closely look at what makes art an installation, discussing it’s required properties, from aesthetics, to an implied message and context using the work of scholars such as Kant and Heidegger as well as many art critics.

Issues of form, scale, shadow and movement in dealing with light This chapter deals with issues confronted by lighting designers and artist alike when dealing with light and offers a small glimpse in how other artistic fields have influenced the way light is used when referring to movement.

Can we create a light art installation capable of reproducing form and movement?

This chapter identifies the main topic we will be dealing with and establishes a success criteria for the development of the designed project.

Design Concept Emergence Here we discuss how the initial idea of the project has started and tries to illustrate the principles behind it through an extensive explanation, presenting mathematical concepts and ideas that we will later use.

Location and Context This chapter deals with describing the location and context of the project. It argues for why such a project should be placed in the respective location and analyses how this socio-economical context could make the project a success.

Design Idea In this chapter the project moves from a theoretical concept to a more concrete idea and puts the the basis for further development.

Available Technologies This chapter takes a look at the currently available technologies and makes an analysis of their relevance in facilitating our design.

Design Development This chapter draws inspiration from all previous investigations as well as introducing new ideas that converge in the development of a cohesive design. The chapter is an argumentative discussion supporting and elaborating the different design decisions.

Prototype This chapter describes the development process of the prototype, beginning with the digital model moving on to the actual construction process and testing, as well as explaining the software engineered in order to interact with the prototype.

Final Discussion Evaluation In this chapter we take a critical look at the developed of the work and try to identify if the proposed success criteria have been met. Pointing out successful aspects as well as the shortcomings of the design.

Future Work This chapter describes improvements that could be made to the design and comes with different proposals regarding the possible development of the design when upscaling from prototype to the actual interactive sculpture.

Conclusion This chapter sums up the reflexions and recollections regarding the process of developing the project and the paper at hand.

11

12 Introduction

Motivation The main motivation in the development of the present thesis has had at it’s basis in a continuous fascination with the use of light in the context of art, particularly in the interaction of the public with such works. After an extensive period of time in which I have dealt with the subject of human-computer interaction using a Kinect depth camera coupled with a continuous research into light based projects, I would decide that these two subjects could potentially cross paths and contribute to the development of a challenging idea.

More so, the common preconception that art and science have nothing in common, has probably been one of the most influencing factors in pursuing a direction that would try to disprove this allegation. Coming from an architectural background where an irrefutable connection between the two aforementioned subjects has been established from the very beginnings of the profession, it seemed that an attempt to create such a bridge between lighting design and art could be a starting point in disproving the above mentioned preconception.

During my education as a lighting designer I found myself to be lacking an artistic incentive and that very little knowledge with regards to the use of light in the context of art was available from the educators.This fact has created an appetite towards investigating the artistic opportunities of light in the projects that I would be involzved in.

When I began this thesis I was convinced that I would be developing some sort of object that can be interacted with, but had no idea where and how I could begin. As any other architect, when in doubt, I went to the museum. As weeks passed by I found myself more and more confused, however one thing was becoming clear, the object needed to be of a significant scale in order to have an impact on a public.

While working on student projects I have always tried avoiding physical prototypes, having relatively limited electronicWWs knowledge I preferred to use digital simulations and mockups.This would not be the case this time. It was very important to me to also deal with this aspect of designing.

Having all of this in mind I realised that an interactive lightsculpture could be the project that could check all the boxes. Starting with an intensive artistic research, a strict consideration of light, elaborated design development and ending with a massive prototyping tasks and relentless interaction design engineering, this challenge if completed would prove to myself that I am a capable lighting designer able to undertake real world challenges.

13

Initial research

Fig 1.1 Venus of Moravany (22.000 BC), depicting de nude of an obese woman, an antropomophic representation of fertility.

16 Initial Research

Discussion on the evolution of art and it’s connection to technological development

T

he definition of art has always been a controversial subject, in particular during the 20th and in the first decades of the 21st centuries, when the means of expression have evolved, morphed and transitioned, hand in hand with emerging technologies and social development. But one constant has remained during the ages, art appeals to our humanity and it is tied to phycological, sociological and political issues relevant to its time.

From the beginning of time, humans have tried to express beliefs or ideas through different mediums that would offer a certain degree of temporality, be it from the simple need of passing down knowledge to coming generations or as a simple spiritual relieve that would offer them a day to day comfort. The palaeolithic cave paintings are theorised by scholars to be a method of communication with others, a primordial method of visual story telling, that dates back 32.000 years. It is in this period that the first sculptural figurines appear, as a form of mobility art, artefacts that in many cases would have religious meaning, such as Venus of Moravany (22.000 BC), depicting de nude of an obese woman, an antropomophic representation of fertility.

The technological and cultural development of this proto-societies, such as the production of colouring pigments, the use of burned clay and later, ceramics, the desire of “cultural colonisation” of the inhabited space, is a clear example of an emerging symbiotic relationship between art and technology, their coevolution as a hallmark of humanity’s transcending ages.

It is a common idea that science and art share many of their core principles, both involving overlapping methodologies, such as the development of ideas, hypothesis and theories which are later tested in an environment which engages both the mind and the body such as the studio or the laboratory. Artists and scientists alike, tackle divers subjects ranging from materials, people, history, quantum physics etc. in order to transform the acquired knowledge into something else.

In classical greek, the word art is translated as techne, from which the words technique and technology would arise, thus presenting us with an ancestral connection between the scientific and artistic fields.

Aristotle defined art as the embodiment of an idea, a form of imitation, a behaviour characterised by the pleasure we feel as humans when recognising likeness.(1) However he believed art is not a mere act of replication but one of abstraction of the individual phenomenon.

Later, during the middle ages, this idea evolves towards the concept of the godliness of art and as beauty is an essential property of God, by association, aesthetics become a key element in many forms of artistic expression.

During the Renascance Era art becomes in many ways the equivalent of craft, and as such it is treated both from an evolutive and economical stand point of view as a commodity good, used in many cases as a propaganda facilitator for different ideologies and factions.

(1) www.iep.utm.edu/aristotl/

Discussion on the evolution of art and it’s connection to technological development 17

However it is at this moment when science and art begin to intertwine with each other in a very curious manner. The renascanse concept of the integration of all disciplines gives birth to a movement that would further push the boundaries of our knowledge and understanding of the world we live in.

Such an example would be the use of geometry, in the development of perspective drawing, by architect Filippo Brunelleschi, a technic that would revolutionise the art world and would forever leave it changed, by giving birth to a realistic aesthetic. Leonardo DaVinci’s anatomical studies that were fuelled by scientific enquiry in order to produce natural depictions of the human form and movement which in turn led to advancement of medical knowledge. The list of examples is to long, and the subject would require a dedicated academic paper.

During the neoclassical age and beginning of the romantic era a different view emerges, primarily from the works of Hegel and Kant, concerning art. Ideas from the precursor ages such as those concerning beauty are kept, however new valences are added. Hegel brings art and freedom together and anticipates the idea of art-for-art’s sake. For Hegel the Idea is always opposed to Nature. The mind is contrasted to the mindlessness of matter or nature. The mind creates art, which gives an idea to nature. This idea is the unity of the externality or objectivity of nature and the subjectivity or personal vision of the artist.

Kant believes the spectator of the work of art is as important as the art maker. Like all of Hegel’s triads, nothing is lost: nature and idea are the other to one another but together they create an organism, the work of art. (2)

In contrast to the neoclassical age which has as a main focus the reinterpretation of the antique greek and roman thematics, the romanticism movement adopts a new and bold (2) plato.stanford.edu/entries/hegel-aesthetics/ (3) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism

18 Initial Research

dogma, mainly encouraging an aesthetic which is driven by an emotional response. Beauty is no longer in the object but in the eyes of the beholder, where the creative mind can actually shape reality. Coinciding with a wave of political change across Europe, it promotes democratic principles, such as the freedom of expression and engages mundane thematics, thus beginning to address a new kind of public. If up to this point art was reserved for the aristocratic elites and private collections of art, romanticism produces a tectonic shift in society proactively seeking the engagement with the public at large.(3)

Romanticism also influences the scientific field, promoting anti-reductionism principles; thinkers of this period seeking to reunite humans with nature, many modern ideas such as man’s ability to understand nature requiring a harmonious coexistence lye at the base of scientific investigative methodology.

It is through such a holistic perspective that Goethe, manages to establish a catalogue on human perception of colour, exploring how the behaviour of light and respectively colour under different conditions play a factor in it’s interpretation by the human brain.

Fuelled by the industrial age and sociopolitical changes, romanticism ultimately sparks the birth of realism and the arts and crafts movement, ultimately establishing the design discipline.

At the end of the 19th century a new current arises, symbolism, an anti-reactionary movement to realism, it addresses maters of spirituality, imagination and dreams. Having been forced by technological advancement such as photography to pursue a new kind of expression, symbolism becomes the precursor to modernism, which later defines it’s self as a way of thinking resonating with philosophical characteristics of self-reference.

Modernism is the direct result of a far reaching transformation in the Western civilisation, happening at the end of 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, as a response to the rapid urbanisation of society and the process of massive industrialisation.

It is in this period, more precisely in 1917 when installation art makes it’s debut on the international stage. The avant-garde Dadaist artist Marcel Duchamp submits a work entitled “Fountain”, a urinal, which stirs up a fiery discussion on the eligibility of the piece as being art.

“Duchamp describes his intent with the piece to shift the focus of art from physical craft to intellectual interpretation” (4)

Fig. 1.2 Marcel Duchamp’s “The Fountain” 1917 porcelain urinal

It is an interesting paradigm to say the least, trying to understand how mass production affects art, mainly elevating it to a highly conceptual stage. The advent of mass production and technological advancement with regards to the means of reproduction, leave the artists of this era in an uncomfortable position, forcing them to evolve as intellectuals, and experiment with new means of creative expression, ultimately booming into an almost unrecognisable entity that would shape and set new fundamentals and goals for the contemporary art of the 20th and ultimately 21st century.

Installation art is in many ways a direct reaction to the overstimulated world we leave in today, many of such works trying to transpose the viewer to an alternate environment or state of mind, predominantly through the use of, but not limited to, new media technologies. One of the distinctive criteria present in this artform lies in the engagement sphere between the public and the piece, having an intrinsic connection to performance art. Borrowing from the world of theatre, installations seek to immerse the viewer in a sensory or narrative experience which engulf him or her, but at the same time allowing a degree of self determinism as an audience. Many artists today use high tech solutions as a means of creation. The installation, be it through a relatively new form of artistic expression, is a contemporary culmination of technology and art, marring them into a indistinguishable manifestation of the human creative spirit.

Having observed this natural evolution of society it becomes fairly easy to recognise that technology and art have at their core a very similar set of principles, such as: challenging the status qua, the pursuit of perfection, and improving our lives and that of our piers.

Having all these in mind I dare to conclude that at an abstract level there is no difference between the two.

(4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Duchamp

Discussion on the evolution of art and it’s connection to technological development 19

Lighting design in contemporary art

M

any of the experimental works dealing with light in today’s art have fallen outside of the puritan traditional medium such as sculpture or painting, having been considered neither one or the other, even though they were dealing with a direct visual output or form creation in their work. Due to the recent technological development, a multitude of paths have been laid out before the artists dealing with the treatment of light, beginning with experimentation in the creation of shapes in different contextual spaces, aggressively expanding the range of possibilities thus challenging the institutional and theoretical interpretation of the established art world. Having an exponential increase of computerisation and the spread of easily accessible programming languages such as Processing, artists have started to play with their new tools by engaging in the creation of works that take advantage of the computational power available. Such pieces involving pre-set states or the mixing of elements through randomisation process, even the direct interaction of users as a creative input, allowed artists to build upon an already established heritage in the real of light and even to cross disciplines in ways that were not possible to their predecessors. (5)

The idea of using electrical light as a material is not a new one but goes back to the Italian Futurists, which theorised upon the use of light and it’s ability the expand the scope of a work to an additional dimension. One of the pioneers of this idea is Hungarian constructivist Lazlo Moholy-Nagy in his 1930 Light-Space Modulator.

(5) Anna Moszynska, Sculture Now, 73

20 Initial Research

Fig 2.1 Lazlo Nagy Light-Space Modulator (1930)

Lighting Design in contemporary art 21

Fig. 2.2 Lucio Fontana Linear Light (1951)

22 Initial Research

Fig. 2.3 Anthony McCall Solid Light (2011)

Through the use of seventy-five electrical lights, he tries to engage the viewer into a dialog regarding the materiality of the object and it’s relation to space.

Other pioneers of the medium are Gyula Kosice and Lucio Fontana, which begin to employ, in there works, the use of tubular neon lighting. One of the most know works of Fontana, is the ceiling sculpture for the 1951 Milan Trienniale, where he address the issue of physical development of form though the use of light.

Reflection is another powerful element of light that has been experimented with in many works, Iranian artist Monir Shahroudy Farman-

farmaian has incorporated Sufi tradition in her minimalist works, experimenting with segmented mirrors. Her art deals with a reinterpretation of the surrounding environment offering a new perspective to the viewer of their context.

Another example is Anthony McCall, who created a major attraction with his “solid light” assembly. By using light, projectors and screens he achieves a result that can only be described as a illusionistic chamber of light.

Drawing the attention of the audience from the surface of projection to the three- dimensional space of the light cone created between projector and the projected image.

Lighting Design in contemporary art 23

An important point in recognising the institutional importance that sculptural light displays have as a movement at an international scale been marked in 2001 with the opening of the first Museum of Light at Unna, Dusseldorf.

The museum prides itself with a collection of mostly site specific works from an array of well recognised international artist such as Christian Boltanski, James Turrell and Olafur Eliasson, to name a few. Most of the projects found here are having an immersive quality and involve the public by engaging to respond to choreographed conditions between darkness and light, transforming the experience in an unique interaction.

The flexibility of the neon light, as a medium, has made it one of the wide spread “materials” used as part of complex three-dimensional installations. Since the 1990 a series of experiments have been made with neon lighting technology. Due to its physical properties, it has been seen by artists as a re-working of the traditional notion of relief. The relief sculpture is customary made by removing material from a background plate thus leaving an elevated sculpted area. Neon eliminates the need for carving yet still creating a raised shape in this manner generating a relationship between the work and the architecture of the gallery. Neon is not the only lighting method employed by artist, since the wide commercial availability of LED technology in the 1970, it also has become a significant part of the artistic language of light installations. LED screens being used in public site works, in some cases occupying the position of advertising billboards. Such pieces had a very significant importance culturally, drawing the public’s attention to the manifestation of art outside the galleries or museums. (6)

It was just a matter of time until the agressive expansion of digital technology made its presence known in the exhibition space.

Digitalisation has had a very disruptive effect in this environment, in particular by immensely (6) Anna Moszynska, Sculture Now, 83

24 Initial Research

expanding the possibilities of light sculptures.

In 2003, by using programming, artist Wyn Evans manages to marry his interest in encrypted communication and literature with an extravagant baroque lighting fixture in the work entitle: “Diary: How to improve the world”. The flickering lights of the chandelier convey the Morse code interpretation of literary work from authors such as John Cage and J.G. Ballard. It is in this manner that Evans manages to transform a plane text into an abstract light performance.

Many other individuals became interested in the potential brought by digitalisation and thus begin experimenting with ways of implementing these new tools in their work and even expanding their purpose such as the interaction with bodily activity. Such installation pieces includes “Pulse Spiral” by Mexican artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer.

His 2008 work uses 400 incandescent lightbulbs, arranged in accordance to the Fermat equation, it interacts with the public by using a sensor that reads an individual’s heart rate resulting in the installation reacting to this unusual input.

Fig. 2.4 Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Pulse Spiral

Fig. 2.5 Mariko Mori Tom Na H-iu

Lighting Design in contemporary art 25

One of the most inspiring works of the previous decade is the brain child of controversial Japanese artist Mariko Mori. Known for her relentless pursuit in bringing a sense of sublimity in her futuristic approach to art, she managed to achieve it in the 2006 piece entitled Tom Na H-iu. The work is an extravagant reinterpretation of an ancient Celtic site, according to norse mythology, a place where a connection with the realm of the afterlife was made allowing the transmigration of souls. Moriko uses ancient rituals and the potent symbolism of light in engaging the viewers to contemplate upon their mortality in the context of “a universal spiritual consciousness” . (7)

Tom Na H-iu is a 3.5m tall elliptical light form that interests the public not only through it’s daring subject, but also through the technological means through which it achieves its goal. The ephemeral lights illuminating the sculpture are controlled by cosmic radiation. The neutrino detector Super-Kamiokade located in Hida, Japan, sends to the sculpture information which govern the light emissions present in the piece. It is in fact, one could say, the final light sonnet of a dying star. Such technological boldness coupled with the sensibility of the concept, is what has stirred the admiration and curiosity of individuals working in the trans-disciplinary field of art and technology, in many ways being the catalyst for what would come in the following years.

The last example, that we are going to look at in this chapter, is the work of London based collaborative effort, United Visual Artist.

The work done by them involves in much part the employment of digital solutions.

“Origin” is a public work build in 2011 in the industrial area of New York, overshadowed by the Brooklin Bridge, it manifests itself as a 10X10 cube of light, which both reflects and disrupts the vibrant city around it.

(7) Anna Moszynska, Sculture Now, 86 (8) https://uva.co.uk/work/origin

26 Initial Research

The piece exerts almost megalithic properties, seeking to provoke an emotional response from those entering it’s realm. (8)

“Origin” is a responsive large scale LED sculpture that tries to engage the public in an almost political debate on societies’s ability to accept the idea of a digital technocratic life-form.The 125 cubic, 2X2X2, spaces lined with LED strips allows for producing a numerous array of multidirectional patterns, coupled with speakers, which produce a range of real time sounds. The piece becomes a sort of dialog space between the two governing entities inhabiting the installation. Both sound and light engages with each other, giving birth to an emerging generative performance of light and sound. It is interesting to see the work from a technological standpoint a view. By creating an installation which is aware of it’s environment, an artificial -intelligence that responds to it’s input through an almost recursive method, the artists touch on the idea of consciousness and it’s purpose in 21st century art.

All the examples discussed in this chapter had lead us through a journey of art as conceptual manifestation of it’s creators, but most importantly has opened a window in understanding the use of technology in this context and potential in engaging with the audience. It is of no doubt that current technology has opened a new realm of exploration, allowing for bolder and bolder experiments, not just from an aesthetic standpoint of view, but also by creating new possibilities for the public to become part of the art. In many ways it has brought to the art world a sort of democratisation, allowing the individual to partake in it’s creation.

Fig. 2.6 UVA, Origin (2011)

Lighting Design in contemporary art 27

Lighting design in the development of new forms of art expression

A

s we have seen in the previous subchapter lighting design has played a crucial role in the way artist express their ideas in the current context.

The technologies borrowed from the field of lighting design have helped them reach their audience in new and exiting ways that ware not even imaginable just a few decades ago.

The question at hand remains, what exactly does lighting design impact in the way artists manifest there work. In order to answer this question we must look at some examples where the artist has implemented a technology coming from the lighting design field, and analyse it’s use in the context of the art piece; and how has it facilitated the ability to express a particular idea in a new manner.

Light has been used for centuries by architects in order to “create� space or certain visual illusions, through time they have used different methods to achieve the end goal, however recent technological development has brought a new such trick, called projection mapping.

Fig. 3.1 Moment Factory, Ode a la Vie (2011)

Projection Projection mapping is a process through which objects, most commonly of an irregular shape, are used as a display or for the projection of video content. Such object can vary from large scale industrial landscapes to in-door objects or theatrical stages. It has grown significantly in popularity in recent years and it has been used by artists and designers alike as new means of engaging the public. Much of it’s success is due to the unprecedented flexibility offered by the technology and it’s relatively reduced cost.

Projection mapping has become a go-to lighting technology, in particular for the performance art field as well as commercial advertising.We will try to analyse three such scenario in order to understand how lighting design has disrupted the creative field, by bringing into perspective a new blank experimentation “canvas”.

The first such project is made by Montreal based company Moment Factory, entitled “Ode a la Vie” , it is a large scale projection mapping performance created particularly to be projected on one of the facades of the well known Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona.

The work is an homage to the creative genius of the great catalan architect Antonio Gaudi, by trying and succeeding to bring the building to life through the interplay of light and shadow. The projection mapping technology used by the designers has allowed them to introduce animation elements in the projection, thus breathing new life into the intricate tectonics present on the facade.

Thanks to the projection mapping technology, the facade becomes a pseudo analogdigital tectonic ecosystem, which in many ways enriches the architectural ensemble, presumably bringing it closer to Gaudi’s vivid imagination.

Several other project have to be mentioned when discussing the use of projection mapping, such as the performance art pieces “Box” designed by Bot&Dolly and Pixels by Mourad Merzouk.

(9) http://gmunk.com/BOX-DEMO

30 Initial Research

The aforementioned project “Box” , “ is grounded on the Principles of Stage Magic, invoking five of the basic categorizations of Illusionary. These Categories greatly informed the conceptual and aesthetic foundation and were fused with a graphic design aesthetic heavy in Minimalistic Forms and Illuminated Fractal Geometry.” (9) The project is a cross disciplinary experimentation involving several technologies, such as projection mapping and precision robotics thus allowing it to achieve unprecedented technological and sensibility levels. Dealing with matter of space perceptions it’s creators use projection mapping to play upon the audience’s undestandting of three dimensional concepts. It opens a window into the human psyche, challenging the status quo on what space is and how we can inhabit and interact with it.

The last project involving projection mapping technologies discussed in this chapter is the live dance performance act “Pixels”. In this work the creators use light as a choreographic tool, supporting the performers and elevating the audience’s experience to transcendental levels

Fig. 3.2 Mourad Merzouki, Pixels (2014)

Fig. 3.3 Bot&Dolly, The Box (2015)

of visual understanding of the act. The performance has been described by it’s creators as a “… a dance show for 11 dancers in a virtual and living visual environement. A work on illusion combining energy and poetry, fiction and technical achievement.” (10) and “ A show at the crossroads of arts and at the crossroads of Adrien M / Claire B’s and Mourad Merzouki’s universes.” (11) In such sort of scenario light is being used as communication tool, an amplification of movement and form used in further developing the emotional connection of audience to the act. In many ways the light is an active participant in act, a performer in it’s own mean which expresses its self in tandem with the rest of the dancers in a symbiotic complementary manner. A poetical way of describing, would be a ephemeral dance between light and humans.

We have seen how projection mapping has changed the artistic landscape, and has brought new means of expression to the table.

However this has not been the only lighting technology that has created a disruption in the artists world.

(10 http://www.illumni.co/pixel-dance-show-by-adrien-m-claire-b/ (11) http://www.illumni.co/pixel-dance-show-by-adrien-m-claire-b/

Lighting Design in the development of new forms of art expression 31

Digital control Addressable LED systems and DMX controllers have established a uncontested presence in all aspects of artistic expression with an ever growing demand of their use. The perks brought by these technology in controlling illumination systems or various installations have made the life of any designer employing such means an experience that has become much more artistically centred rather then a technological endeavour.

DMX controllers have played a crucial role in the development of performance art.

They have made it possiple for creative masters of light to develop complementary environments together with musicians, dancers and choreographs, by allowing the possibility of ever larger scale setups and a simplification of what can be perceived as a stupefyingly complex systems.

“A wide variety of lighting control consoles, controllers and other devices that output DMX signals can be used to connect to an even greater variety of lighting fixtures and accessories that can be controlled by DMX. DMX controlled lighting systems are used in many professional settings, including concert lighting, stage lighting, studio lighting, theme park attractions, and much more.” (12)

In recent years, the DMX standard is being used more frequently in Architectural lighting projects, including illumination of building exteriors, accent lighting, general purpose building management and high-end residential lighting. This is due primarily to the high popularity of LED based lighting fixtures, which are frequently controlled via DMX signals.”

Creative studio “rAndom International” has employed similar control methods using addressable LED technology in what is a truly fascinating piece of contemporary gallery art. By combining several technologies from the field of lighting design and computer science, they have managed to address core issues in regards to how people perceive technology, art and consciousness.

(12) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMX512

32 Initial Research

In their piece “Swarm Light” the authors have managed to create a living environment for what can be described as a “light entity” inhabiting two parallel universes, the digital and physical. This creature of light manifests an archaic intelligence capable of a behavioural response to it’s audible physical context. The conceptual sublimity of the idea of interacting with a digital intelligence transposed in a physical manifestation through light is unprecedented, and offers a glimpse into the future of humanities relation to technology. By tapping into our fascination or rather perception as light being of divine origin the makers of the above mentioned art piece have managed to marry the technological aspect of lighting design, artificial intelligence and the poetics of light into an holistic ensemble in which, as Aristotle would put it : “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” (13)

Through the brief analysis of the works presented above, we can observe a significant change in scale, complexity and subjects undertaken by creatives around the world due to the introduction of new technologies and in particular those brought from the lighting design discipline. It is safe to assume that a significant number of the works presented could not have achieved many of their goals in the interaction with the audience, if not for the methodologies, technologies and aesthetics developed in the context of lighting industry.

Artistic expression represents the freedom of the individual to convey his or her ideas to the public, it is the quintessential prerogative necessary in the development of art, without it, art is but a mere shell reduced to nothing more then craft. It is the freedom brought by technology, in particular by lighting design, which has made possible for all individuals wishing to pursue explorations in the subject of light to achieve their goals and even surpassing them by making it an easily approachable field.

Fig. 3.4 Muse, Concert Lighting (2015)

Fig. 3.5 rAndom International, Swarm Light (2015) Lighting Design in the development of new forms of art expression 33

Problem Area

The properties of art installations

L

ight is a constituent factor in many installations at different scales, however it manifests different characteristics depending on the project at hand. In broad strokes these properties can be split in several categories such as: light as a communication tool, atmospherical catalyst or as an aesthetic addition, but also taking into consideration its spatial contex.

Looking at initial research in the use of light in the context of art we can begin to make assumptions on possible requirements for each of the above mentioned categories.

From the beginning of time light has been used as a communication method, be it through very direct means such as in the case of a lighthouse guiding ships safely to the shore or much more subtle methods, as used in temples, in trying to impose divinity upon the revered.

In art, light brings along the mytho logy surrounding it, and as a result artists have always tried to draw on it’s legacy in numerous forms both through direct and indirect means.

In a work such as that of the Light-Space Modulator discussed in a previous chapter (see page 20, Fig. 2.1) light is used to communicate the magnitude of the work through what can be descried as relatively indirect form. The artist uses light as a method of increasing the perceived scale of the sculpture. This can be interpret as a play between big and small, material and imaterial. Light becomes a method of communicating amplitude and scope, that of what can be initially perceived as small can have a far larger rever-

beration, if only we can take a metaphorical step back and try to engage in a holistic observation.

“Minimalist art has transformed the status of the viewers more successfully than the ather did so of the spectator. After all the viewer seemed to have been released from his passive role. He no longer simply came to stand in front of the work, but was, as it were, actively and physically included in it. And this accomplishment is indeed the basis for today’s widespread positive assessment of Minimal art.” (14)

To achieve differentiation, a form of lighting is required that Richard Kelly refers to as focal glow. This is the first instance where light becomes an active participant in conveying information. One important aspect that is taken into account here is the fact that our attention is automatically drawn towards brightly lit areas.

It is therefore possible to arrange the mass of information, contained in an environment, via the appropriate distribution of brightness – areas containing essential information can be emphasized by accent lighting, information of secondary importance or disturbing information toned down by applying lower lighting levels. This facilitates the fast and accurate flow of information from the visual environment. With its inherent structures and the significance of the objects, it contains, the environment is easily recognised.

This also applies to orientation within the space – e.g. the ability to distinguish quickly between a main entrance and a side entrance – and for the accentuation of objects, as we find in product displays or the emphasizing of the most valuable sculpture in a collection. (15)

Other methods of communication can be seen in works where individuals have tried to connect there “message” to a the direct output of light, this however does not deter the sublimity of a work as shown in previous examples. Ranging from the visual output of the beating heart

(14) Reiss. From Margin to Center (15) wiki.bk.tudelft.nl/bk-wiki/Media_Studies:_Light_Architecture#Light.2C_form_and_texture

36 Problem Area

of a user to the last “breaths” of a dying star, light is used to express concepts far more complex than we could have anticipated when embarking on this exploratory journey.

“Colour concepts are used by advertisers as persuaders and ‘tricks of the trade’ for luring you into buying selected goods and services. The colour of the lighting under which things are displayed changes the apppearance of things and can give them a significance that they may not have had before.

Sophisticated advertisers understand the semiotics of colour and shape, and the subliminal processes of creating dreams. “ (15)

“The visual speaks to us directly, evoking emotional responses. It begins very early with the innocent eye of childhood, but psychologists inform us that it is very soon (even by the age of four and a half ) overshadowed by the sense of colours as belonging to objects, probably because of the demands for training in practical skills that rely more heavily on shape that colour. It can, of course, be fostered, and there are unprovable suggestions that a strong visual sense of colour is more likely to survive in some tribal communities, and possibly in some that are relatively isolated on islands.” (16)

Colour is often used the in combination with another characteristic that we will be discussing next. A much overlooked aspect of light is the ability for it to become an atmospheric catalyst, as we know the context in which light is used is of immeasurable proportions, however we can try to narrow it down to scenarios where light has a psychological impact upon individuals.

As creatures bound by light, we can not help to wonder and be amazed by the uncanny ability of the phenomenon to affect our mood.

Though not fully understood this almost supernatural property has been employed by creators from early human history. The phrase “dixitque Deus fiat lux et facta est lux” (“And said God let there be light, and there was light”)(17), is a representative connection of how we perceive light as having a supernatural sway upon ourselves, beginning with our earliest attempts at coherent intellectual reasoning. Moods can serve as a vehicle for establishing atmosphere. It refers to emotions and feelings the author is trying to convey towards the audience. Ranging from happiness to sorrow, from certainty to mystery the atmosphere created through the use of light has played a crucial role, not just in it’s employment as an emotional engagement tool in art installations, has it’s roots in the field of architecture where it began. Through the use of intensity, colour and shadow designers have managed to achieve in their works divers emotional states that can be representative of an entire design or just used as a means of supporting a performance, art work or design.

Aesthetics of light is concerned with the appreciation of beauty and artistic taste. Light has been a main facilitator in the development of new aesthetics. In his work Aesthetic Theory, Adorno tries to tie the notion of aesthetic progress to the dimensions of aesthetic “productive force” and aesthetic “material.” Such concept of materiality, according to Adorno, however do not refer to the material qualities of the numerous aesthetic media, in our case Lighting Design, or the means of representation. He assumes that the aesthetic material exemplifies the methods of “construction” engendered over the course of history “ in relation to each of the various aesthetic media”(18). As a parallel we can say that light exists as an aesthetic material only when considering each individual work.

(15) www.coloracademy.co.uk/ColorAcademy%202006/subjects/advertising/page1 (16) www.coloracademy.co.uk/ColorAcademy%202006/subjects/language/language (18) Adorno, Aesthetic Theory, 30

The properties of art installations 37

Fig. 4.1 Olafur Eliasson, Notion Motion, 2016

Adorno writes in his Aesthetic Theory the following:

Julian Rebentish further agues in his book Aesthetis of Instalation art the following:

“The socially most advanced level of the productive forces, one of which is consciousness, is the level of the problem at the interior of the aesthetic monad; In their own figuration, artworks indicate the solution to this problem, which they are unable to provide on their own without intervention; this aline is legitimate tradition in art. Each and every important work of art leaves traces behind in its material and technique, and following them defines the modern as what needs to be done, which is contrary to having a nose for what is in the air. Critique makes this definition concrete. The traces to be found in the material and the technical procedures, from which the preceding works misfired. By labouring on them, the new work turns against those that left traces behind; this, not in subjective feelings for life in established styles, is the actual object of what historicism treated as the generational problem in art.” (19)

“The aesthetic object becomes aesthetic by virtue not of particular qualities but of specific sort of procedural relation to it. Aesthetic autonomy, according to this proposed cenceptualization- and Kant had already seen this- is not something that can be localised in particular object qualities. Works of art are authentically aesthetic, not when they are formally constituted in a certain way but when they allow a particular, specifically aesthetic experience.” (20)

Fig. 4.2 Theodor W. Adorno

Robert Moris writes in Notes of Sculpture the following:

“The better new work takes relationships out of the work and makes them a function of space, light, and the viewer’s field of vision. The object is but one of the terms in the newer aesthetic. It is in some way more reflective because one’s awareness of oneself existing in the same space as the work is stronger than in previous work,with its many internal relationships.

One is more aware then before he himself is establishing relationships as he apprehends the object from various positions and under varying conditions of light and spatial context.

Even though not directly a property of light we also need to address the how it interacts with the context of a work. Installations are context-sensitive with regard not only to the interior or exterior of space in which they are exhibited but also to the social frameworks that influence the reception of art in general”.(21)

(19) Adorno, Aesthetic Theory, 35 (20) Julian Rebentish, Aesthetic of art installation, 52 (21) Anne Rorer, “Context as Content, Subject as Object: Installations in Chicago Since 1967”, 24-45)

40 Problem Area

Installation art thus engages society not from a sphere presumably untouched by it in this sense autonomous, it also address it’s own social dimension.

The art historian Alex Potts observed the double sensitivity of installation art to the context, that it has quite fundamentally and polemically- that is, also with regard to traditional painting in a frame or sculpture on a pedestal- rejected the idea of context-independent art as ideological.(22) As his predecessor Adorno has already seen, art installation “depends on its ambience, its function, and, literally and figuratively, its locus.” (23)

Under the title of “site specificity,” installation art sharpens the reflection on the double localisation of art by expressly mediating between its two poles. Site-specific installation art aims to thematize the interwoven literal and social sides of art. It reflects on the institutional social, economic, political, and or historical conditions that frame it by intervening formally in a given architecture or landscape. The contextual reference of art exhibited by site-specific installations should thus be understood not as contrary to the autonomy of the aesthetic object but rather as one of the essential aspects defining this autonomy.

Heidegger writes in his book “ Being and Time” the following “The actual world, discovers the

spatiality of space belonging to it” (24), by which he means that architecture plays a special role in the practical disclosure of space or spaces. To further understand what he was thinking when making such a conclusion we should refer to his writings from “Building Dwelling Thinking” where he make his case using as an example a bridge.

Hence, according to Heidegger, the spaces always already disclosed by a life-world along with these relations remain ontologically prior to the “space” of mathematical physics even when the latter may be recognised as “objective reality” with the aid of the scientific method.

It seems that the horizon of meaning potentially opened up by the art work has the particular achievement consisting in the fact that it reveals its environment.

By this I will conclude the chapter by paraphrasing Heidegger ’s 1953 lecture series entitled “The Arts in the Age of Technology”, his conception of the essential relatedness of art and technology he expresses the hope that awareness of the essence of technology as a mode of “revealing” would open up the perspective of a “saving power.” (26) He sees this salvation as a return to a non instrumental relation to self and to the world. Since man has a constitutive part in this “revealing,“ in principle it also allows for an opening up, to what allows humanity to become more disclosed or “revealed” as a civilisation.

“The location is not already here before the bridge is. Before the bridge stands, there are ofcourse many spots along the stream that can be occupied by something. One of them turns out to be a location, and does so because of the bridge. Thus the bridge does not first come to a location to stand on it; rather, a location comes into existence only by the virtue of the bridge. […] By this site are determined the localities and the ways by which a space is provided for. […] Accordingly, spaces receive their being from locations and not from “space”.” (25)

(22) Alex Potts, Installation and Sculpture, 6 (23) Adorno, Aesthetic Theory, 350.

(24) Matin Heidegger, Being and Time, 97

(25) Heidegger, Building Dwelling Thinking, 154 (26) Matin Heidegger, Technic und Kunst, 34

The properties of art installations 41

Issues of form, scale, shadow and movement in dealing with light

P

Form

art of the appeal of designing with light is its elusive nature: its effect can be almost palpable and may be visually arresting, yet the rays of light themselves are usually invisible. When designers or users talk of “light,” they often mean the effect of light on a surface or object: highlight and shadow, soft gradations of light, or the sharp definition that comes with focused point sources.

Light reveals form: wall planes, three-dimensional space, architectural details, furnishings, sculpture, the breaching structure of trees. Light can enhance or diminish elements of the built environment as well as the natural environment.

(27)

Form is one of the seven elements of art.

At its most basic, a form is a three-dimensional geometrical figure (i.e.: sphere, cube, cylinder, cone, etc.), as opposed to a shape, which is two-dimensional, or flat. In a broader sense, form, in art, means the whole of a piece’s visible elements and the way those elements are united. In this context, form allows us as viewers to mentally capture the work, understand it and attempt to analyze it. (28) Form has been during millennia, one of the key components in artistic expression, be it a physically three dimensional manner or just a pseudo third dimension achieved in two dimensional works

Fig. 5.1

Fig. 5.2

(27) wiki.bk.tudelft.nl/bk-wiki/Media_Studies:_Light_Architecture#Light.2C_form_and_texture (28) arthistory.about.com/cs/glossaries/g/f_form.htm

42 Problem Area

such as paintings, but in which light, and perspective is used in such a way that the achieved result is interpreted as a form rather than shape.

The photographs below are taken in conditions simulating an artificial sun and sky, using a large luminous plane and light from a parabolic mirror. The light conditions are different in each of the situations presented, as a result the way we perceive form is slightly altered.

Starting from left to right, we can observe how light plays an impact in the way our eyes can see more or less detail, distinguish form or appreciate scale.

In figure 5.1, having a straight parallel light source, the light and shadows are so sharp and dense with such amplitude that the form of the objects constituting the composition becomes almost indistinguishable from each other. Even the small dents in the porous surface of the orange are more than enough to create harsh shadows. In contrast the fibres of the tennis ball are visible but only as a result of the gloss. We

could say that such a scenario is able to camouflage the form of the assembly.

The second scenario (fig. 5.2), in diffused light conditions, the lack of shadows results in a loss of the three-dimensional form. The spheres no longer resemble what they are and the depth of the texture is gone. The orange is remarkably unappealing while the tennis balls seems to be nothing more then cotton wool.

If we combine the previous two scenarios into a resulting third one (fig. 5.3), meaning that we would create a scene, where the sharp light and shadows are kept, but having a much more reduced density, as a result of the diffused absent light. Thus our eyes can penetrate the shadows and a more visually readable composition emerges. In the last example (fig. 5.4) we can clearly understand the objects presented to us due to a combination of direct lighting and ambient lighting. This example stands as a testimony to the use of light in understanding form and how it can be affected by artists and designers alike.

Fig. 5.3

Fig. 5.4

Issues of form, scale, shadow and movement in dealing with light 43

Scale

“Light has a special quality that very few seem to notice. It has scale. In almost the same way that small objects are overlooked and get lost in a large space, they will tend to get lost if the light is 'large', coming from a large area. Attention simply shifts from detail to totality when light sources become larger. And inversely, it moves from totality to detail when the sources are small.� (29) All that encompasses the planning of light is a continuous balancing act in-between the hole and the detail, with regards to the ambient vision which stands in opposition of the focal vision or the emotional impact evoked by the space at hand, versus the interest surrounding the objects.

Figures 5.5 and 5.6 showcase such a phenomenon. The pictures are taken in a Copenhagen museum, the space is part of the archeological excavations done at the Castel of Copenhagen and displays the 800 years of historical development as well as a scale model of the castle at the start of the 17th century.

The presentation boards are lit from below to ensure a minimum specular reflexion and a qualitative legibility of the content at a distance. As a result the surface of the panels becomes calm, solid yet not expressing heaviness, allowing the public to focus on the showcased material.

A different solution is employed in displaying the castle. What can be read as small scale light spots in the second image, are actually round holes painted black which are hidden in the frame of the glass enclosure, the light perturbing through the openings act similarly to tiny narrow-beam spotlights. Since the light sources are so small, the model of the castle is perceived at another scale. Because the inner courtyard can not be studied closely, the lighting is less complex involving just a down light and the diffused reflexion of the courtyard itself.

While walking around the enclosure, the visitors have a chance to observe the intricate details present on the roof and facade, perceiving the building as they would be having an actual aerial view of the splendid architectural masterpiece represented by the model.

(29) Sophus Frandsen, The Scale of Light, http://wiki.bk.tudelft.nl/bk-wiki/Media_Studies:_Light_Architecture#Light.2C_form_and_texture

44 Problem Area

Fig. 5.5

Fig. 5.6

Issues of form, scale, shadow and movement in dealing with light 45

Shadow Shadows are just as important as the illuminated area when dealing with any sort of lighting scenario. A shadow can be defined as the space where light has been obstructed by an opaque object. In visual arts individuals are very aware of the effects of coloured light which is emitted or reflected by several sources, the result being the apperance of complex multicoloured shadows.

A point source of light casts only a simple shadow, called an “umbra”. For a non-point or “extended” source of light, the shadow is divided into the umbra, penumbra and antumbra.

The wider the light source, the more blurred the shadow becomes. If two penumbras overlap, the shadows appear to attract and merge. This is known as the Shadow Blister Effect. (30) Obviously the handling of shadows asks for more than just two words: ‘soft’ and ‘sharp’. But everything in between - actually the overwhelming majority - seems to be without name and explanation. As a result a scale has been proposed.

The visual effects of the nine steps (fig.

5.7d) are obvious. In predominantly parallel lighting the two balls look as if they were protruding from the picture plane. In diffuse light they get more and more flat. As to the texture, types a-c are capable of showing almost every little hair, whereas types g-i rather give the impression of a fur.

In the middle, types d-f demonstrate their lniddle-of-the-way qualities. Neither dramaticallythree- dimensional nor dull and flat. Showing the structure of the surface, without accentuating more than a few hairs.

The borderlines between the three series are not sharp ones. But for practical purposes it should be possible to consider the whole shadow scale as composed of three separate parts, each with its own properties and expression. The extremes are more or less reserved for artistic purposes.

The middle is for everyday use.

(30) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow

46 Problem Area

a

d

b

e

c

f

g

h

The shadow-type of fig. c-d for example, would in a black room be c-d, but as a result of the additional diffuse light it is shifted to type d-e.

It should be kept in mind, however, that the scale of ’ shadows tells us about solid angles and their effect. Which means that the ame angular relations are valid irrespective of the size of the object. The more the physical size of the main form differs from that of the detail, the more difficult it becomes to optimise simultaneously the light on both.

And that conflict is essential. Details are pushed into the background when a large form receives ‘large’ lighting, or they can be emphasized by directional lighting, in which case the main form tends to get lost. We cannot expect to get both as a matter of course. So we are forced to make a choice. And that choice will normally be determined by the need for emphasis. Take the orange in fig. c. It has to look appetising on the dinner table. But in the supermarket we would like to examine it Or take the inspection of a make-up in front of the mirror. It requires revealing light and no flattering. But in the assembly room the opposite would be an advantage.

Fig. 5.7

i

Issues of form, scale, shadow and movement in dealing with light 47

Motion Motion has been tackled by artist during ages through various means. Beginning with classical sculpture, motion is expressed through the attention to gestures and posture of the observed objects in dynamic stances. Even when dealing with the “immovable�, ultimately the static object conveys motion.

However motion, as a means of expression, has been revolutionised in the world of performance art. Here individuals have had a much larger freedom of expression from early on. As such story telling and emotional engagement have been closely studied from the very early days of the greek drama up to contemporary Broadway shows.

Fig. 5.8 Martha Grahanm, Dance (1933)

Martha Graham, the pre-eminent leader of modern dance in the 20th century, was born on May 11, 1894. Martha Graham, the American dancer, teacher, and choreographer, revolutionized the world of modern dance. She possessed a great gift for revealing emotion through dance, expressing beliefs and telling stories in an utterly new way. Through her choreography, Martha began to push the art of dance to new limits. Her early dances were not well received by audiences, as they were confused by what they were seeing on stage. Her performances were powerful and modern and were often based on strong, precise movements and pelvic contractions. Martha believed that by incorporating spastic movements and falls, she could express emotional and spiritual themes. Her choreography overflowed with beauty and emotion. Martha was establishing a new language of dance, one that would change everything that came after it.(31)

(31) Jiwon Han, Emotion in motion, 16

48 Problem Area

Fig. 5.9 Bernar Venet, Indeterminate Lines (2002)

Fig. 5.10 Bernar Venet, System und Zufall (2004)

Beginning with the mid 1960s light is introduced as a co-existing piece in performance art.

Choreographers supported by lighting designers achieve a dynamic duo in between the performers and light. Lighting designers such as Richard Pilbrow pioneer illumination technics by being at the spearhead of stage lighting and pushing the boundaries of aesthetic motion lighting. By making light an acting part of the performance he has opened an entire new dimension in experiencing performance art. For it’s early beginning light in performance art has moved from supporting feature to a fully fledged independent means of expression, giving birth to entire choreographed light shows.

In the early 1970s light shows became a form of psychedelic entertainment, usually accompanied with a live musical performance on stage or pre-recorded music.

It is an amusing realisation to make the connection between dance and light, and how they have influenced each other, such as the ground braking work of Martha Graham in reinventing motion as a means of expression and how these principles are brought in the lighting design industry, particularly in light shows.

From the Christmas Laser show in the Tivoli gardens of Copenhagen to the light show created for the 2008 Beijing Olympics all have in common, principles of movement, that have been developed in order to communicate emotion.

Issues of form, scale, shadow and movement in dealing with light 49

50 Initial Research

Can we createa light installation capable of reproducing antropomorphique form and movement?

H

aving done all the analysis dealing with the history of art in the context of lighting installations we come to conclude that the major factors dealing with the use of light revolve around it’s ability to reveal form, enhance the emotional engagement of the audience and recreate motion in divers manners. However, during the research something becomes unquestionably relevant; none of the artworks deals with the development of form (not to be confused with shape) and movement in the same piece, by which I mean the recreation of a realtime interactive installation that is able to reproduce the motion and form of a user.

In many ways the question becomes “are we able to create an abstract three dimensional representation of a user, capable of recreating the movement of the interacting public through the use of currently available technologies?” If yes, what would be the optimal way to achieve such a result, what are the technologies available to create such a work, and what are the factors that elevate this installation to the rank of art?

Are we able through the use of technology to achieve, what Heidegger called a liberation of the human spirit, having lighting design at the

centre point of our investigation?

During the preliminary analysis we have tried to understand how light moves from it’s functional illumination status to a more creative, artistic endeavour by looking at it’s properties and through accurate investigation methods in the ways it has been use by different artists.

In order to further pursue our investigation we need to move from a theoretical analysis to a much more hands on approach in tackling the issue at hand, as such I propose the development of a case study installation that tries to answer out hypothesis through an undoubtable explanation of the employed methodology.

We will first need to develop a method of recreating form, on top of which we will try to add the ability for it to mimic motion, all of which needs to be a responsive design to the local context of the installation, both at a conceptual and interactive level.

We will need to understand the impact on the of the design on the users and investigate the qualitative properties of light in such an installation by respecting local architectural guid lines. The perception of the user is of critical importance in achieving a successful design, this perception refers both to a direct impact of the object on the individual as well as the overall integration of the piece in to it’s surrounding environment.

After form and movement recreation methods are established we will look into developing a 1:1 partial prototype in order to test the theory behind the design, regarding interaction and light properties necessary in further improving the design and potentially elevating the work to the status of light art.

The hypothesis will have been considered proven, only if the case study will have showed us, that we are able to develop an installation able to recreate the form and movement of an individual interacting with the piece, at the same time allowing the individual to identify with the abstract representation presented to him or her.

Discussion on the evolution of art and it’s connection to technological development 51

Design

Design Emergence

H

aving had a continuous fascination with art and technology particularly how artists use light and lighting design methodologies in their work, I began on a journey of theoretical investigation into the evolution of how light has been implemented in artistic experimentation and have lead me to identify problematic areas that could benefit from further research.

One such key area was the combined representation of form and movement using light. The idea has had several sparking factors, one of which has come from the evolution of sculpture and it’s modern tendency towards the abstraction of form, the second catalyst was introduce by my supervisor Georgios Triantafyllidis which after a consultation regarding the development of form using light, he has suggested to further investigate matters of how the public interacts with light art.

These investigations have lead me to the conclusion that the current art context has so far failed to deal successfully with the above mentioned issues in a coherent unified work.

Even if these issues have been tackled individually, as of the moment of writing this paper, there have been no experimentations using lighting technologies made in developing a responsive interactive light installations that deals with the representing a real time moving form present in it’s surrounding environment.

54 Initial Research

Firstly I was obliged to investigate the level of form abstraction required in order to successfully proceed towards the design stage of the case study, as a result we must come back to our previous discussion on form and how it emerges.

Sculpture is by definition a visual art form which operates in three dimension. As such, the work we are embarking on, can be classified as the development of an interactive light sculpture. A sculpture is created through clever manipulation of material, be it stone, wood, clay, metal etc.

In our particular situation the “material” of choice will be light. Unfortunately light has several disadvantages such as it’s lack of plasticity in creating a form, and the fact that we can not see light just it’s effects on different surfaces.

Traditional sculpting technics rely on the addition or subtraction of material with the ultimate goal of unveiling a particular form. This is a critical principle, which we will need to understand, as it means that we will need to do the same with the material of our choice.

To understand form we need to look at how it arises, in particular we need to grasp the knowledge around how it is created from a purely mathematical perspective.

Geometry is a particular field of mathematics dealing with questions of shape, size, relative position of figures, and the properties of space.

Mathematically a form is the equivalent of a volume, which can be described as a quantity of three dimensional space rapped by a closed surface, and it can be numerically quantified using cubic meters. However what we are particularly interested in, is wha the constituent components of a volume are. In our further inquiry on volumes we must borrow notions from Euclidian geometry, in which three-dimensional space is a geometric setting, in which three values also know as parameters are required to determine the position of an element.

Fig. 6.1 Michellangelo, David (1514)

Fig. 6.2 David Reinterpretation (2016)

Design Emergence 55

Fig. 6.3 Two dimnesional matrix representation of a moving individual

Such notions allow us to understand physical space as a three parameter model in which all known matters exists. This mathematical notion leads us to a relatively abstract conclusion which is, that a volume can be represented through a collection of such parameters, that visualised as a group can perform the task of mimicking a volume. Such a collection of parameters can be identified in mathematics as a three dimensional matrix or grid.

A matrix or grid allows us to make form abstraction but most importantly by introducing an on/of parameter to the items composing the matrix we can create what could seem to be a

56 Design

form in motion.

In 1501 the Renaissance Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni begins work on what would become one of the most celebrated masterpieces in classical sculpture, widely know as David. The piece is a celebration of the human figure and stands as a testament to the understanding of form in it’s most realistic representation.

However “David� deals with only one of subjects which has peaked our interest that being, form, but fails to address the issue of movement, in the sense of a changing form, therefor David will forever be frozen in time. As we have dis-

cussed above, using a matrix we are capable of reproducing an abstract representation of form.

The level of abstraction is directly governed by the density of such a matrix. The higher the density the lover the level of abstraction and vice versa. After all “David� can be defined as a infinitely dense matrix comprised by matter and non-matter arranged in such an order as to result into a complex form.

Having all this knowledge we can quickly deduce that a three-dimensional matrix is the ideal environment for us to develop a abstract form which can be able to move, through a process of addition or subtraction of it’s constitutive elements.

The above diagram shows how this process of addition and subtraction can result in a moving figure, for demonstrative purpose and to ease our understanding of the principle the proposed example uses a two dimensional matrix. Just as in classical sculpture we can add material in places where we wish to grow our form and subtract it where it is no longer needed. It is through these principle that I believe a three-dimensional light sculpture can be created.

Through illuminating the volume needed to create and abstract representation of an individual, I believe we can achieve a solution that is able to deal both with form and movement in a cohesive design.

Design Emergence 57

Fig. 7.1 Map of Zealand showing Roskilde’s location

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Location and Context

W

hen dealing with such an installation we need to carefully consider the location and context in which such a work could be placed.

There are many factors that needs to be taken in consideration, such as the desired audience, the cultural factors surrounding the area and a possible qualitative improvement of an area. As such, the ideal location should have a high exposure to an extensive public, but a strong cultural identity is also needed in order to further solidify the cultural aspect of such a sculpture.

Fig. 7.2 Map Roskilde (32) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roskilde

Fig. 7.3 Roskilde Cathedral

One of the last cultural factor has to do with the fact, that the piece is part of a relatively new artistic expression. and as a result the ideal location should have a reputation as having an avant-garde perspective towards public works.

After having considered all of these factors it seems that a suitable location satisfying the above mentioned criteria could be found in the city of Roskilde, Denmark. Located at 30 km west of Copenhagen, the city has a population of over 50,046, it is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. (32)

Having a history beginning with the ancient viking era and even holding the function of capital of the Danish Kingdom for a significant period on time during the middle ages, Roskilde has gathered a very important cultural background becoming, during the years, the home to many historic touristic attractions. Some of these sites are of great significant architectural importance. One of such could be the gothic style Roskilde Cathedral, wich has been the burial site for the Danish monarchy to this day. The cathedral is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The Roskilde Palace is another one of these sites, having been the residence of the home of the bishops of Roskilde. Today the palace houses the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Location and Context 59

Fig. 7.4 Roskilde Viking Ship Museum

However Roskilde is most popularly known world wide for two of it’s most prised tourist attractions. The first of the two is the Viking Ship Museum, which houses one of the largest collection of viking artifacts, along side an invaluable series of five impeccably preserved 11th century viking ships. The second touristic attraction, also probably the most lucrative for the city, is represented by the annual Roskilde Music Festival, which brings to the city an influx of over 60.000 people during the last week of June, effectively doubly the population of the city and bringing with it a massive economical boost. As a result, the Municipality of Roskilde has proactively encouraged diverse cultural projects dealing with the development of different areas of the city, that would further result in economical reinforcement all year around.

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Fig. 7.5 Roskilde Music Festival, Orange Tent

Fig. 7.6 Roskilde Light Festival

Fig. 7.7 Danish Rock Museum

The initiatives vary widely, as scale and purpose, beginning with the establishment of an annual street light festival during the end of October, to the entire revitalisation of industrial areas of the city to vibrant counter culture hotspots.

The light festival is a perfect example, of why the population of Roskilde has an already established receptivity to the celebration of light in all it’s forms, as well as a dynamic counterculture ready to embrace any sort of artistic experimentation.

As of the end of April 2016 Roskilde is also home to the new Danish Rock Museum, yet another proof of the city’s love for the new and unexpected. The institution celebrates a 50 year history of the counterculture, defined as a manifestation of freedom and boldness. The museum aims to become a support hub for youth culture as well as an interaction platform between individuals of different cultures and social backgrounds.

The museum is actually a part of a larger urban development aimed at revitalising one of Roskilde’s industrial areas. The new masterplan seeks to create a vibrant new area engaged in

supporting culture and artistic development, becoming a centre of activity and further expanding the touristic potential of Roskilde.

The Masterplan is composed by the Danish Rock Museum, the new Roskilde Festival Højskole, which is aimed at students wishing to undertake an alternative path towards a more creatively focused education, along with several student and private container housing developments, as well as numerous outdoor public spaces and parks. The entire development is supposed to be completed 2020, and hopes to bring a new alternative lifestyle to the residence of the area.

As the Musicon development is located on the main access roads between the Roskilde’s main transportation hub. the Roskilde train station, and the main site of the annual music festival, the development is expected to have more the 50.000 tourists passing through the area.

With such a reach cultural background and an obvious political will from the side of the local municipality to engage in new daring projects Roskilde, particularly the Musicon Masterplan seems to be the most logical choice in becoming the new home of our design.

Location and Context 61

Fig. 7.8 Musicon Master Plan, MVRDV

As we have previously discussed the main access to the Roskilde Music Festival area is made through the heart of the masterplan in question, particularly through the street “Rabalderstræde” which also happens to be the main access street to the Danish Rock Musum.

This location appears to be an ideal starting point in the investigation of the possible placement of our new light sculpture.

The location of sculpture would ideally be in the vicinity of the Danish Rock Museum however in order to do this we first have to understand the concept behind the development of the museum. According to the museum’s architects MVRDV and Cobe, it has been designed having in mind an immersive experience aimed at mimicking an abstract representation of the life of a rockstar.

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The museum sets out to achieve this by proposing several phycological stages which the public has to go through when visiting the institution. The narrative is as follows, an arriving area known as the red carpet, followed by entrance area of the museum which tries to mimic the hustle and bustle in the life of a rockstar dealing with fans, press and signing of autographs, the next stage is the ascend to the heights of rock glory followed by the exhibition area which tries to capture “on top of the world” aspects of being a rock star. The narrative ends with the decent from the hight of popularity and finally with the life after the glory.

Although the design has tried to stay true to it’s original concept due to external factors some of the narrative pieces haven’t been

Fig. 7.9 Danish Rock Museum Concept Diagram, MVRDV

clearly implemented. One of these narrative pieces is the “signing of autographs” which has been slightly underdeveloped in the final design.

At a conceptual level “the signing of autographs” is in many ways a celebration of the individual. It is a process in which the “rock star” becomes axis mundi, the centre of attention. We can’t seem to ignore the similarity between the conceptual narrative piece of the museum, and our endeavour, the interactive light sculpture, which also has at its heart celebrating the individual.

It is by having this in mind that I propose the reinforcement of the museum’s conceptual narrative using the light art installation. This decision can also be backed up by the touristic aspect already established by the museum as well as the security aspect offered by

the presence of the institution.

The “Red Carpet” is the first narrative piece of the museums concept, wich also manifests through a physical alley painted in red, functing as a marker for the institution connecting Rabalderstræde to the main entrance of the building. The bright red surface of the path invites ongoing pedestrians to explore this new exciting development, with the ultimate goal of drawing in festival goers to experience the complete rockstar narrative of the Danish Rock Museum. It is at this location that the sculpture must be placed in order to further attract tourists and reinforce the museum originally intended experience.

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Design Idea

E

ven though the technical lighting design challenge lyes in the ability of the installation to recreate form and movement, a poetical underlay is evident when trying to understand the overall idea of the installation. The sculpture is at it’s core a celebration of the individual through the medium of light. By recreating the human form through light, the sculpture taps into our psyche through our portrait as abstract beings of light. As cosmologist Carl Sagan famously said “ we are but stardust”, the sculpture tells us something else “we are but light”. This implies stripping the identity of the users, a metaphorical cleansing through light, which leaves behind the ego and culminates into a rebirth of the individual as a creature of light. In many ways, a transcending experience to a realm of perpetual digital existence. We can even go further and say that the sculpture can be perceived as a mirror into our own soul, the abstract representation in form and movement, a ghostly reminder that our comprehensiveness of our surrounding world is infinitely obtuse when compared to the grander scale of the universe.

The piece in many ways embodies the role of cognitive mirror, and similarly to the mirror it tries to reflect what it “sees” through a process of light “modelling”. The mirror is known as an object that is synonym to observation and exploration of self. This quality is something that migrates effortless to our sculpture but only at a conceptual level, as the abstract properties renounce detail in favour of a subtle recreation of form and movement, it acts as a revealer of the

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cosmic ballet between light and shadow, having the individual at it’s centre, and allowing the user to become the master sitting in the chair of the choreograph.

The installation also seeks to be an act of further democratisation of art in the following sense: sculpture, until what we understand as modern art, has been a method of celebration of a particular event or individual; however by allowing the freedom for the piece to display any individual and any movement that they desire to undertake, be it graceful or chaotic, reverent or indecent, it becomes a uncensored method of expression. At it’s centre we can find the common citizen,the installation allows he or she to manifest themselves through motion in an unprecedented manner, it is in many ways a new form of sculpture.The beauty of the installation is that this is a participatory work, encompassing users and integrating their actions into a display show that is available to everyone.

The sculpture is composed by two elements: An interaction area and the display are. The first element is defined by a physical area delimitated by the “scanning pillars”. It is the interaction zone of the sculpture where the individual’s form and movement is analysed with the help of depth imaging. The second element is the display area, also known to us as the matrix. Here the a three-dimensional model is displayed through the manipulation of the individual “pixels” of the array.

As the work would most likely experience inactive periods of time where users are not available for interaction it is appropriate to consider the establishment of two functional modes dealing with the active and inactive states of the piece. As such the active mode would of course be dealing with a scenario in which users would be directly interacting with the sculpture.

In this scenario when an individual would

approaches the installation, he or she would be scanned by a series of depth cameras, allowing the piece to process a map of it’s environment, which can be interpreted and translated into the three-dimensional matrix. As the computation occurs in real time, a live feed is established between the user and the sculpture,resulting in direct interaction between the user and the installation, that creates a three-dimensional mirroring effect. Information flows from depth sensors to the processing units, from where it is sent to the matrix and an information storage unit where a library of interaction is created.

This information will further be used in the inactive state of our sculpture. The inactive state of the sculpture can be characterised as a manifestation of ghostly apearances, where the installation access it’s library of previous interactions, from which it randomly retrieves previously created datasets. In a manner of speaking the installation preserves in its library an array of digital personas which are available to “perform” a light show at any given time, by beginning to recreate past “reflexions” from encounters with previous users.

Fig. 8.1 NEO-David Systems Idea

Display Matrix

Scanning Pillars

Scanning Area

Red Carpet

Design Idea 65

Available Technology

A

s the installation needs to be as cost efficient as possible, as well as having in mind an easy construction process, the technology implemented in the design has to have been already tested, as a viable solution for the different issues with which we will be dealing with. The technology has to be an off the shell start solution that with a little bit of ingenuity, can be converted to sucrose to out specific needs.

The general availability of standard technologies have the advantage of keeping the costs to manageable expectations, and offer a varied array of troubleshooting solutions, if any unforeseen issues might occur. They have also been the “go to� for all artist trying to marry technology to their art.

Fig. 9.1 Illustration of Edison inveting the Light Bulb

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Available Technology 67

Matrix controle system Our first stop lyes at the development options of the matrix, and in choosing an appropriate control method through which we can control individual pixels, having in mind the use of minimum components as well as keeping the system as simple as possible, in order to easily address any unwanted flaws. According to the investigative research undergone for the development of this paper two generally available solutions are possible, the first one uses an electronics design technique called multiplexing, while the second one uses a control system which is coupled with an addressable chip in the illumination unit.

Multiplexing is a method that is extensively used in telecommunication and computer networking. It’s primary goals is to combine an array of analog or digital signals into one signal that can be transferred through a shared medium, thus sharing a potentially expensive resource and keeping the costs to a minimum. An example of using multiplexing can be drawn from telecommunications, where numerous telephone calls can be carried using a single wire. Originally developed in the 1870s, for it’s use in telegraphy, the principles found at its core, have spurred a wide diversity of applications. To further understand this process we need to look at our matrix setup.

For easier understanding we will be using a two-dimensional matrix.

The diagrams show us how, through the use of 4 channels, we are able to control a matrix of 16 items. The process occurs through the multiplexing method. By using the correspond channels we are able to access the desired item.

The science behind the system is actually very simple from a theoretical point of view, and relies of on a micro controller that simply closes the circuit of the desired item, resulting in a continuous flow of electricity that lights up the tim in question. However the more complex situation in the last scenario, where several items are addressed, is where multiplexing truly shows it’s potential.

Using a high frequency, the micro controller access all items in the matrix for an extremely short period of time, by which I mean a microsecond, due to the cumulative effect of “on” and “off ” states of the items, which have

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a)

b)

c)

Fig. 9.2 Illustration of showing the principles of multi-plexing

different interval, the human eye is tricked into believing that the matrix configuration displayed most often, is the actual “fixed on” setup.

As a principle solution such a method could work for our intended purposes. However in one further investigation, it has been unveiled that two major issues arise when using multiplexing.

The first has to to with the micro controller, which due to the fact that our matrix will have a large number of items, needs to be custom built, which will imply a higher than average production cost. The second concern has to do with the actual wiring of the matrix becoming a highly complex and time consuming task, which is well beyond the technical knowledge of a lighting designer.

The second proposed solution is the use of a control system that deals with addressable items.

What I mean by this, is the use of a system which uses a micro controller, that drives a series of microprocessors representing the matrix items. Even though this might sound very complicated, this is a standard solution commonly used across the electronics world.

A microprocessor is a computer processor, that has the same functions as a computer’s central processing unit (also know by its acronym CPU) but as an integrated circuit. The microprocessor is a multipurpose, clock driven, register based, programmable electronic device, which accepts digital or binary data as input, and processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, providing results as output. (33) The advent of the microprocessor has forever changed the face of the world. Beginning with it’s development in the late 1960s, when its computational power was no more then a joke compared to today’s standards, it has revolutionised countless industries. In many ways it is considered to be one of the forefathers of the digital age. Today the microprocessor has shrunk in size and grown exponentially in processing power to

the level where one can fit under a fingernail yet it is still able to compute gigabits of information.

Having at our disposal all this processing power, allows us not only to make “on/off ” operations but gives us the freedom of manipulating the matrix elements using brightness intensity, colour etc. .

The daisy chain is a wiring scheme, in which multiple devices are connected together in a series, which allows power, analog signals, digital data, or a combination of the previously mentioned, to be passed on from one item to the next. Dealing with a series of microprocessors means, that the creation of a daisy chain scheme is possible, which can send particular data sets to individual items. This wiring solution implies a less laborious process in developing our project, while the microprocessors offer a much greater range of control over the matrix indexes.

As the price of microprocessors is dropping on monthly basis, coupled with the daisy chain solution, which is a lot less time consuming compared to multiplexing as well as the general availability of the components, makes this solution much more viable then the previously presented one.

Fig. 9. 3 Intel 4004, the first commercial microprocessor

(33)en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microprocessor

Available Technology 69

Matrix Light “Pixels” The matrix will of course be comprised by a series of “items”, each representing a coordinate in physical space. There are several options to be considered as the ideal illumination technology, which could be used to take the role of our so called “pixels”. Technological aspects needs to be taken in consideration as well as cost and form factor, in order to further facilitate a successful designg.

The common incandescent light bulb is the first candidate for the job in question. With an established history, and an unquestioned proof of durability, the incandescent light bulb can be suitable in using it as a “pixel” in our matrix. The advantages are considerable, especially having in mind it’s general availability and relatively low cost. However the major issue in using them, is with regards to their very low efficiency, reason for which many European countries have began phasing them out as early as 2005. As a more energy efficient alternative, to the incandescent light bulb, we could consider a florescent option. But considering many other factors such as a light bulbs fragility of to impact, and the fact that in order to use them as intended, we would need to add to each individual item a microprocessor, makes this option highly impractical.

The Philips Hue is an entirely new interpretation of the classic incandescent light bulb. Using LED based technology, it has an extremely high energy efficiency and is able to recreate colour.

More importantly the hue comes with an integrated microprocessor, which is addressable via wifi. The product seems ideal for creative endeavours, but due to a very high retail price having a large scale installation, means that we would quickly surpass any reasonable budget.

Lastly, even though in the case of a very large matrix the form factor of both the hue and the light bulb could work, if we would like to achieve a higher pixel density in order to create

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Fig. 9.4 Modern Incandescent Light Bulb First comercialy available 1945.

Fig. 9.5 Philips Hue First commercial available 2014

Fig. 9.6 Adresable LEDs, first commercialy available beginning of 2000s

more accurate form recreation, a much smaller product needs to be considered.

The saving grace, fulfilling all the above discussed requirements, comes in the form of the humble light emitting diode. More precisely from the addressable RGB-LED communaly known, between lighting designers, as the Neopixel. This relatively new product has been designed, having in mind a very high degree of control over the emitted light, as well as a high flexibility in it’s use for very large scale applications such as advertising screens.

Due to its internal microprocessor, it is able to function both individually as well as a part of

a daisy chain wiring scheme. A very high efficiency means that it has a very low consumption of energy while running at very low voltages, meaning that it has an extremely high safety ratting. With a minimal form factor, measuring 5mm in high and 3.5 mm in diameter, the external translucent casing, is made out of hardened plastic making the diode almost unbreakable from impact damage.With an extremely low retail price of under 0.1 Euros the Neopixel is the perfect product required in a the development of a successful design, representing the ideal matrix “pixel� as well as it being a crucial part of the overall control system governing the matrix.

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Depth Imaging One of our major issues in our design is the development of the appropriate data set required in creating the abstract anthropomorphic representation within the domain of our matrix. Even though it might seem as a daunting task, recent developments in computer vision have made this possible and most importantly generally available to the wide public. What is our main interest lyes in the ability to develop a depth map, which we can later use to recreate a digital three-dimensional object, as well as allowing us to combine it with a standard image sequence, through wich we can analyse moving objects and subtract them from the surrounding static environment.

Numerous computer scientist as well as artists, having more or less success, have struggled in developing a tool that could be able to do such complex operations. However no commercially available solution could be found until November 2010, when Microsoft launched, what will latter become an industry standard, the Kinect.

The Kinect is a depth camera in comparison to normal cameras that collect the light that bounces off from the objects in front of them and turn light into an image that resembles what we see with our own eyes. The Kinect, on the other hand, records the distance of the objects that are placed in front of it. It uses infrared light to create an image ( a depth map) that captures not what the objects look like, but where they are situated in space.

A depth map image is much easier easier for a computer to “understand� then a conventional colour image. Any program that is trying to understands an image starts with its pixels and tries to find and recognise the people and objects represented by them.

Much of the colour of the pixels is determined by the light in the room, as a result it is very hard for a computer to determine where one object begins and another ends.

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In a depth image, on the other hand, the colour of each pixel tells us how far, that part of the image is from the camera. Also because of how the Kinect creates its depth image, it is not sensitive to the light conditions present in the working space.

A depth image also contains accurate three-dimensional information about whatever is in front of it. Unlike a conventional camera, which captures the way things look, a depth camera captures where things are. The result is that we can use the data from a depth camera such as the Kinect to reconstruct a 3D model of whatever the camera sees. We can manipulate this model, viewing it from additional angles interactively, or combining it with other models. The idea is that by using three such devices, we are able to combine the individual depth maps in such a way, that we can develop a 360 degrees 3D model of a human, which is animated realtime. None of this can be done through the use of a conventional camera.

Fig. 9.7 Kinect v1 developed by Microsoft for the Xbox 360. It was released in November 2010 and it sold 10 million units in the first month after release, making it the fastest selling computer peripheral in history.

Fig. 9.8 3D Mesh created through the processing of a cloud point obtained from a depth map.

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Motion Tracking

Motion or video tracking is also a computer vision concept, which we will need to implement, in order to eliminate from our depth image, any unwanted “artifacting� , and allowing us to scan only the user interacting with the installation and none of the static objects. Video tracking is a process, through which one or more objects are located, as a result of their motion over a given period of time, using standard camera.

To perform video tracking an algorithm analyses a sequence of images. By comparing the different pixel values of the images, it can output the movement of targets between frames. Of course there are many algorithms of achieving this result, each having advantages and disadvantages.

Considering the fact that in order to compute all the necessary data sets we will require significant processing power, the most simple video tracking algorithm should be more than sufficient for our purposes.

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Fig. 9.10 Illustration of motion tracking

Available Technology 75

Design Development The human scale

O

ur first consideration when beginning to engage in the design development process of the light installation, has to do with the scale of the sculpture.

As the interaction will occur in-between a human and a machine, we need to acknowledge the fact that if not proportioned correctly, the sculpture might come of as an intimidating object for the users. When interacting with an extremely large object the users feeling of intimacy becomes hindered, as a result the emotional connection between the human and the sculpture could be compromised. Having a compromised emotional relationship could mean that an individual may potentially be unable to freely expresses him or her self. It is for this reason, I believe that the dimension of the sculpture needs to have a direct correlation between its size and the size of a average individual, therefor the sculpture can in some way represent a so called “safe” space, a shelter for an individual’s light manifestation.

Le Corbusier developed the Modulor as an anthropomorphic scale of proportions in the long standing tradition of Vitruvius. He as well as his predecessors, Leonardo da Vinci, Leon Battista Alberti and many others have tried to discover mathematical proportions in the human body and use this knowledge in improving both aesthetically and functionally the architectural environment.

(34) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulor

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The system was based on the human measurements, the double unit, the Fibonacci sequence, and the golden ratio. Le Corbusier described it as:

“A range of harmonious measurements to suit the human scale, universally applicable to architecture and to mechanical things”. (34)

The Modulor was initially based on the height of the average French man of 1.75m. However it was changed in 1946 to 1.83m, in order to fit in with the views of the time on the ideal male figure, the tall and handsome hero from the periods english novels. As such the dimensions were further refined using rounded numbers and resulted in the overall height of 2.262m, as the individual would have his arm raised above his head. This adjustment coincidentally fits perfectly with todays estimations of the Danish national male height average of 1.826m, which implies that the Modulor is the perfect tool in the dimensioning of our light sculpture.

Fig. 10.1 Le Modulator was created by Swiss-born French Architect Le Corbusier in the 1940s to set standards for the human body in architecture and mechanical design.

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2260 mm

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1130 mm Fig 10.2 Dimensioning of the sculpture external envelope according to Modulor proportions. Scale 1:50

The internal matrix structure will also be dimensioned according to proportions coming from Le Corbusier’s system. In order for the vision of the spectator to penetrate the matrix, so that he or she could easily understand the recreated shape, an appropriate spacing between the light pods needs to be take into consideration.

As we have discussed in the Concept Emergence chapter the higher the density of the matrix is, the more accurate the physical representation of the form we obtain. However as the elements become more and more compact the problem of self obstruction becomes a critical issues.

In order to solve this problem I began by making a series of tests in establishing what is

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the optimal spacing using a sequence or distances, relating to the Modulor, which has led me to a conclude that a grid spacing of 48 mm could be the most optimal distance for our intended purposes.

As a result of this arrangement the matrix will contain 48 668 led, meaning that if all LED were to be turned on, they would have a total power consumption of aprox. 4.000 W/H and a total luminous intensity of 83.000 cd. However such a scenario will never occur, most likely the maximum number of LEDs that will be active when a user is interacting with the installation will be around 4.500.

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Fig 10.3 Grid layout Scale 1:5

Front View

Side View

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Fig 10.4 Dimensioning of matrix grid. Scale 1:20

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Lighting Elements

The particular facade structure of the Danish Rock Museum (Fig 10.5) is an inspiration source for the design of the small encasements of the individual LEDs present in the matrix. The particular geometry of the light pods should have a similar architectural language to what is already present on the site.

As a result the light pods will have a diamond like shape resembling the facade cladding of the museum but at a much smaller scale.

The pods have an aesthetic function as well as offering further protection the LED. The base of the light pod can be manufactured in a similar way to a breadboard, making construction of the matrix a much simpler endeavour.

The last characteristic when dealing with the matrix relates to the colour of the emitted light. Considering that the sculpture will have two functioning modes, it would be appropriate that two colours would be used in order to distinguish between the these modes.

The facade of the Danish Rock Museum has several glazed areas (Fig. 10.7) that have a very similar look and feel to our densely arranged matrix. On close inspection we can admire the beautiful effect created in-between the low colour temperature light and the irregular perforation pattern of the facade panels. This effect has also a functional purpose, showing if the museum exhibition is open or closed.Taking further inspiration from the museums design, and its surrounding we can analyse the light temperature and colour pallet present in different areas of the building and use the result in order to calibrate the colour light emitted by our light pods.

Considering the two scenarios of the sculpture as well as the fact that the museums lighting has already establish a language in communicating the availability to the public of the exhibition area, I propose to that the same “vocabulary” be used by the installation. As a re-

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Fig 10.5 Facede panels

Fig 10.6 Lighting Elements Scale 1:1

sult when the sculpture is in the active mode the light portraying its state should have a yellowish glow similar to that visible in Fig.10.7. While in the inactive state, when the sculpture is accessing the interaction library, and displays performances of past users, therefore creating a ghostlike memory of an individual, the light should also reflect the aesthetic of the museum.

In this scenario I believe the light should reflect the coloured red tones of the interior clading present in the museum, in some way reflecting on the idea of the “within” as in coming from the inside. It makes a poetic conection inbetween the red tones of light coming from the interior of the main entrance and the red light of the sculpture coming from the “interior” of its “memories”.

Fig 10.7 Exterior facade section showing the solution for glazed surfaces.

Fig 10.8 Interior cladding of the entrance area.

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Scanning Pillars

Fig 10.9 Diagram showcasing the interaction area and scanning pillars.

The scanning pillars are a crucial part of the design. Without them the sculpture is nothing more than a very large pile of LEDs. They allow as to acquire the data necessary to compile an accurate view of the environment.

Placed in a equilateral triangle formation they continuously scan the interaction area in order to “find out� what is going on in their field of view.

Each scanning pillar houses a Kinect which is able to create a depth map. The individual maps are then transferred to a main processing unit where the next step occurs. Through the use of a mathematical algorithm and a software

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originally developed as a scanning tool used in rapid prototyping, we are able to overlap and compare the three images in order to form a complete 3D model of a user interacting with the sculpture. As this process happens 30 times per second, this being the limitation of the Kinect camera, the three-dimensional model is continuously updated, giving us the illusion of an animated recreation of the interacting user. This information is then sent further, to be processed into the data required by us to control the LEDs of the matrix which match the spatial coordinates of the individual.

The actual design of the pillars resembles the triangular forms of the museums and are dimensioned using the Modulor, but also keeping in mind the specific requirements of the depth camera. With a total heigh of 1,1m and a side edge of 28 cm, the pillars have a minimal design, reminiscent of miniature monoliths. The housing of the depth camera is placed at a height that allows for a large scanning area, managing

to cover the maximum with and height, when considering the camera properties of the Kinect.

The last design feature of the pillars is with regards to indicating the two modes of the sculpture. Three light strips are embedded in the structure of the pillar displaying, through the use of coloured light, if the installation is currently in an active or inactive state.

280 mm Mode Indicator (Inactive/ Active) Light Strip Housing Depth Camera Houseing

Pillar Leg Processor Housing

1100 mm

Mode Indicator (Inactive/ Active) Light Strip Housing

Mode Indicator (Inactive/ Active) Light Strip Housing

Fig 10.10 Diagram showcasing the scanning pillars.

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Elevation

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Prototype

T

he development of a working prototype has been a priority from the very first moment the idea of the project emerged, having in mind both prooving that the technology is avaible as a means to achieve the desired outcome, as well as identifing potetial design flaws. It has also been a way of understanding the intricacies of the project, from the physical properties of the “medium” in the installation, to the phenomenology of anthropomorphization unveiled by the use of light.

Through intesive experimentation the prototype has allowed me to establish principles that have further improved the final design, both in efficency, through the development of possible construction technics, power supply methods, data transmition protocols and software engineering, while at the same time allowing me to undestand the impact of my work as designer from a philisofical perspective. The prototype has been a key element in revealing the physicality of such a work, both from an artistic side as well as a logistic exercise. The work although having a “mechanical” look to it, is softened by gentle light effects playfully moving within its domain.

The prototype is ultimatly a proof of concept, showcasing a small section of the sculpture, which can be used as an advertiment piece, in what could be a fonds gathering campaign needed in the development of the actual installation.

86 Design

Digital Prototype

The digital model was the first step in the prototping procces, it allows for the development of an accurate model, from which we can later substract the neccesary information required in the construction procces.

The digital prototype is comprised from several main elments, the plinth which acts as a houseing for the power supply and the control system, the matrix ,containing 512 evely space LEDs, a support system for the matrix and the external envelope The digital prototype has allowed for the experimentation regarding the spatial distribution of the light sources, giving us the flexibity to try out different configurations and test them through the development of a series of visualisations.

One of the most crucial aspect in its development was its ability to shed light on what could be the ideal wireing scheme. If at first glance this might seem to be a banale task, when working with a high number of light sources, this quickly becomes a higly complex chore. The scheme had to take in consideration apropriate distribution of power and insure a continous flow of data without causeing any electical problems. After various itterations the final solution was implemented in the development of its physical counterpart.

Fig 11.1 Illustration of the digital prototype

Prototype 87

Physical Prototype

Fig 11.2 Image of a LED strip

The physical prototype has been developed using the knowledge acquired through the initial digital experimentation, as well as the through the use of additional components which could not be tested until this point. In order to achieve a fully working scale partial model of the sculpture, we needed to incorporate the additional components of the installation, such as a control system for the matrix, a scanning method and a power supply fitting the energy requirements of the prototype.

For the intended purpose of creating a proof of concept prototype, the control system would be formed by a standard of the shell PC, which would be used in running the developed software used in processing the required data, coupled with a FadeCandy micro-controller, which is able to output the computed data to the LED matrix. FadeCandy is the perfect tool

88 Design

for creating interactive light setups when using addressable LEDs. Being an open source hardware means that its Open Pixel Control protocol is compatible with many of the general available high level programming language, such as Processing or Python. These languages don’t require a very high level of computer programming skills which is ideal for any Lighting Designer. The Fadecandy controller is capable of driving up to 512LEDs, arranged in 8 strips of up to 64 LEDs, and can be connected to a laptop over USB.

In order to scan our environment we will be using a standard Kinect, which we have discussed in a previous chapter. However for demonstrative purposes the prototype uses just one of these devices as opposed to the three used by the full scale sculpture. In order to achieve a result close to the intended one we needed to come up with an interesting solution.

The matrix will be composed out of 512 F5 RGB LEDs arranged in 8 grids of 8x8 LEDs with a spacing of 48mm, which stacked on top of each other result in a cubic lattice with a dimension of 35x35x35cm. This particular LED has a high data transmission stability and is able to receive and forward output large information packages. It is able to produce luminous intensity up to 2000 mcd using 5v 20mA. This product has a very good performance. The visual effect is clear while providing strong data anti-interference characteristics.

The large number of LEDs require the appropriate power supply running at a low voltage. The lighting elements need supply that is able to provide the required current. As each individual LED needs 20mA per colour channel, a quick calculation reveals that in order to fully power the entire matrix at maximum brightness, we would need an electric source able to deliver 5V with a minimum of 40A. Fig 11.3 Prototype main components

Fig 11.4 Image of the soldering setup

Prototype 89

Physical Prototype

The construction process of the prototype has proven to be a very arduous task, which has had an overvaluing effect. The total time spent on the development of the physical prototype has surpassed all previous estimations, racking up a total of approximately 250 labour hours.

The first task in the construction process was testing out each individual LED in order to determine if any item might have manufacturing flows, during the testing we also identified the different pins of the diode and adjusted them to a configuration suitable to requirements established in the digital wiring scheme. The next step was preparing and cutting the steel wire used in making the structure of the matrix it summed up to a total length of 67m cut in 144 pieces of 35cm for the power and ground, and another 504 measuring 4,5cm used in making the data connection between the individual LEDs.

After all preparations required, the long process of soldering this three-dimensional puzzle began, with a total number of approximately 3000 individual solders, this has proven to be the most time consuming of all tasks. As my personal experience regarding this step of the process was fairly limited, this exercise quickly spiralled in to becoming a Sisyphean labour, requiring limitless patience and undeterred motivation. In order to minimise possible accidents and malfunctions of the prototype during the soldering process, a modular method was implemented.

This method ensured that wiring problems or faulty LED that ware damaged as result of the high heat from the soldering process could quickly be identified and mended.

This modular method implied soldering the LEDs in strips of eight that could be individually tested, ensuring that the required power is delivered and that the data signal can travel without any issues from one end of the strip the other. The strips ware tested using a small power supply, the FadeCandy, and a small piece

90 Design

Fig. 11.5 Diagram of LED conectors

LED V Data IN

Data OUT GND

of software developed particularly for a linear light source arrangement. After the testing was completed the strips were arranged in a square formation and soldered together to create a 8x8 two-dimensional matrix. The grids were again tested, this time using a 5V 40A power supply and the FadeCandy as well as a new piece of software that is able to deal with the grid arrangement. These plates were later stacked on top of each other using a support system in order to form a LED cube.

The last part of the prototyping was the fabrication of the plinth, housing all the power supply and other electronic components, and a plexiglass protection casing enveloping the three-dimensional matrix. All of these were done using drawings developed from the digital model, which were laser cut and glued together.

Fig. 11.6 Image of the soldering process

Fig. 11.6 Image LED strip testing process

Fig. 11.7 Image LED plate testing process

Fig. 11.7 Image LED cube testing process

Prototype 91

Final Discussion

Evaluation

A

fter the development of our project we need to conclude if the proposed solution has managed to fulfil any of the requirements that we have initially set out to achieve.

On the technological side of things, regarding the ability to recreate an anthropomorphic representation of form and movement, I believe that the installation has successfully proved, that this can be achieved. Using the prototype developed during this time, we ware able to create a solution that is able to deal both with form and movement drawn from a real time physical scenario. Even more so we have managed to prove, that it can be done through the use of generally available technology and methods, that can easily be accessed by any individual wishing to pursue a similar endeavour. With a fairly limited budget of approximately 250€ and very little electronics knowledge, and not having access to a specialised environment, such as an electronics laboratory, I was able to build, in my mother’s living room, a physical installation which is able to respond to the movement of an individual, interacting with it as well as integrat-

94 Final Discussion

ing the ability for it to reproduce an abstract representation of the user’s form.

Even though the most challenging intellectual part of the project had to do with the software engineering, driving the installation, using a high level programming language such as Processing has allowed me access to create variety of open source libraries, that were of great use to me. Ideally a more efficient software could have been developed, however the user friendly nature of Processing was well worth trade-off in favour of the computational power required.

On a close analysis of the prototype I could conclude that no visibility issues were apparent with regards to the readability of both movement and for. My main concern having to do with the spatial distribution of the light “pixels”, and the possibility of self obstruction due to the high density LEDs present in the matrix.

Having said all of the above I believe it is safe to say that there is no further proof needed in order to state that from a technological stand point, our hypothesis has been proven and has even surpassed personal expectations, due to the fact that obvious limitations were present result-

ing from the lack of a controlled environment.

From the perspective of the construction process we can safely say, that there have been many setbacks and major flaws when building the physical prototype. One was choosing an inappropriate wire as the main structure for the matrix. Using a 0,8mm steel wire proved to be insufficient in supporting the individual matrix plates, which led to a redesign, that would ad an additional support system, therefore making the system more complicated then it actually needed to be. As well as the inefficient conductive properties of steel which has created several problems in the transition of the data signal through the matrix, something that could have been easily avoided through the use of a simple copper wire.

One other issue had to do with the fact that when soldering the individual LED into a strip and then a two dimensional matrix, I did not use a mould, that would allow for an identical placement of each light source. In stead I was using a plate marked with the appropriate spacing, this resulted in a slight variation in size between each matrix plate, another issue that could easily have been avoided, if I would have had access to a

laser cutter before starting to solder all the LEDs.

Regarding the artistic goals proposed by our hypothesis it is not clear at this moment, if the work can be elevated at the rank of art. Paraphrasing a well know conceptual artist: “ It’s not art until someone else calls it art”, I am inclined to say that only time can tell if this criteria has been met.

After a considerable sized public has interacted with the sculpture, we can draw a definitive conclusion upon deciding if our attempt has been successful or not. However from the limited number of test subjects interacting with the sculpture we can deduce, that the users have had an emotional response to the installation. As the abstract representation visible in the sculpture is identified by the users as being a mirroring “image”, we can notice a behavioural change in the subjects, ranging from happiness to timidity. If an emotional response is proved to be an constant between the different users, then we might be able to assume that the last criteria of our hypothesis could be met.

95

96 Final Discussion

Future Work

W

hen discussing the possibility of future work our main focus is directed to methods in upscaling the principles developed during the prototyping phase to the actual design proposed for the light sculpture.

My first concern when dealing with the actual installation has to do with its power consumption. Preliminary estimations revealed that the current design can potentially draw up to 4KW of power if all LED are active, this is a massive amount of power which raises many environmental concerns. Even if most likely the actual power consumption would be more likely in the range of 0,4 to 0,8 KW. A lifecycle assent of the project would reveal that a very high amount of money would be spent just on literally keeping the lights on. From an investors perspective this is a incontestable no go, with this realisation in mind further investigation is needed in the possibilities of reducing power consumption.

The second major issue has to do with the actual construction process of the installation, as the method used during the development has been highly inefficient with regards to

making the light strips required by the matrix.

This task has been extremely time consuming and with a high chance of making mistakes yet still manageable when building the prototype, the scenario where we would be upscaling from 512 to 45.000 LED this process needs to have a complete redesign. One of the alternative would also be to get in touch with manufactures and discuss the possibility of a developing a custom light strip suitable for our needs.

Safety and damage protection are also factors that need to be taken in to consideration when dealing with a project available to the public. The design needs to be adjusted in order to deal with such matters, with the possible inclusion of a protective film applied to the glass enclosure of the matrix in order to protect against graffiti. Also shock resident glass might be an option for the encasement as the ultimate protection agains any possible damage.

Lastly would be with regards to finding the necessary investors to finance such a bold endeavour, possibly developing an awareness campaign around the project and trying to get the local government is supporting the project.

97

98 Final Discussion

Conclusion

T

he thesis has begun from an analysis of art and technology with a particular focus on light and established a goal in finding out if an anthropomorphic representation of form and movement can be developed using light with the help of generally available technologies.

Through experimentation and prototype development we have managed to prove this hypothesis and more. We have been able to understand the inseparable connection between art and technology and have acquired valuable knowledge in the field of architecture, media technology and lighting design.

Each chapter of this paper has been the result of careful and extensive investigation summed up as easily understandable ideas and concepts, that have helped us move towards more and more interesting experimentation.

It is my honest belief, that technology and art are moving closer and closer to each other with every passing year. As the world becomes smaller, ideas will continue to converge at an incredibly fast pace, reason for which I believe, that the establishment of an educational system dealing with both fields in an equal yet unified method is a critical necessity in understanding the world of today and of tomorrow.

99

Bibliography

Literature 01. Adorno, Aesthetic Theory, 30-35, 350 02. Anna Moszynska, Sculpture Now, 73-86 03. Anne Rorer, “Context as Content, Subject as Object: Installations in Chicago Since 1967�, 24-45) 04. Alex Potts, Installation and Sculpture, 6 05. Heidegger, Being and Time, 97 06. Heidegger, Building Dwelling Thinking, 154 07. Heidegger, Technic und Kunst, 34 08. Jiwon Han, Emotion in motion, 16 09. Julian Rebentish, Aesthetic of art installation, 52 10. Reiss. From Margin to Center

Not referenced in the text 01. Benedikt Gross, Generative Design 02. C.E.B. Reas, Processing 03. Daniel Shiffman, Nature of Code 04. Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space 05. Greg Borenstein, Making Things See 06. Immanuel Kant, Critique of Judgment 07. Italo Calvino, Ivisible Cities 08. Juhani Pallasmaa, The eyes of the skin 09. Louise Kahn, Silence and Light 10. Matt Pearson, Generative Art 11. Peter Zumthor, Thinking Architecture 12. Scott Fitzgerald, The Arduino Projects Book 13. Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Aesthetics

102 Bibliography

Websites 01. www.iep.utm.edu/aristotl/ 02. plato.stanford.edu/entries/hegel-aesthetics/ 03. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism 04. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Duchamp 05. https://uva.co.uk/work/origin 06. http://gmunk.com/BOX-DEMO 07. http://www.illumni.co/pixel-dance-show-by-adrien-m-claire-b/ 08. http://www.illumni.co/pixel-dance-show-by-adrien-m-claire-b/ 09. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMX512 10. wiki.bk.tudelft.nl/bk-wiki/Media_Studies:_Light_Architecture#Light.2C_form_and_texture 11. www.coloracademy.co.uk/ColorAcademy%202006/subjects/advertising/page1 12. www.coloracademy.co.uk/ColorAcademy%202006/subjects/language/language 13. wiki.bk.tudelft.nl/bk-wiki/Media_Studies:_Light_Architecture#Light.2C_form_and_texture 14. arthistory.about.com/cs/glossaries/g/f_form.htm 15. Sophus Frandsen, The Scale of Light, http://wiki.bk.tudelft.nl/bk-wiki/Media_Studies:_Light_ Architecture#Light.2C_form_and_texture 16. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow 17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roskilde 18.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microprocessor 19. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulor

103

Appendix

Sofware

Light strip test void setup() { size(800, 200); // Load a sample image dot = loadImage(“color-dot.png”); // Connect to the local instance of fcserver opc = new OPC(this, “127.0.0.1”, 7890); // Map one 64-LED strip to the center of the window opc.ledStrip(0, 64, width/2, height/2, width / 70.0, 0, false); } void draw() { background(0); // Draw the image, centered at the mouse location float dotSize = width * 0.2; image(dot, mouseX - dotSize/2, mouseY - dotSize/2, dotSize, dotSize); }

106 Appendix

Light grid test OPC opc; PImage dot; void setup() { size(800, 200); // Load a sample image dot = loadImage("color-dot.png"); // Connect to the local instance of fcserver opc = new OPC(this, "127.0.0.1", 7890); // Map one 64-LED strip to the center of the window opc.ledStrip(0, 64, width/2, height/2, width / 70.0, 0, false); } void draw() { background(0); // Draw the image, centered at the mouse location float dotSize = width * 0.2; image(dot, mouseX - dotSize/2, mouseY - dotSize/2, dotSize, dotSize); }

OPC /* * Simple Open Pixel Control client for Processing, * designed to sample each LED’s color from some point on the canvas. * * Micah Elizabeth Scott, 2013 * This file is released into the public domain. */ import java.net.*; import java.util.Arrays; public class OPC { Socket socket; OutputStream output; String host; int port; int[] pixelLocations; byte[] packetData; byte firmwareConfig; String colorCorrection; boolean enableShowLocations; OPC(PApplet parent, String host, int port) { this.host = host; this.port = port; this.enableShowLocations = true; //parent.registerDraw(this); registerMethod(“draw”, this); } // Set the location of a single LED void led(int index, int x, int y) { // For convenience, automatically grow the

pixelLocations array. We do want this to be an array, // instead of a HashMap, to keep draw() as fast as it can be. if (pixelLocations == null) { pixelLocations = new int[index + 1]; } else if (index >= pixelLocations.length) { pixelLocations = Arrays.copyOf(pixelLocations, index + 1); } }

pixelLocations[index] = x + width * y;

// Set the location of several LEDs arranged in a strip. // Angle is in radians, measured clockwise from +X. // (x,y) is the center of the strip. void ledStrip(int index, int count, float x, float y, float spacing, float angle, boolean reversed) { float s = sin(angle); float c = cos(angle); for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) { led(reversed ? (index + count - 1 - i) : (index + i), (int)(x + (i - (count-1)/2.0) * spacing * c + 0.5), (int)(y + (i - (count-1)/2.0) * spacing * s + 0.5)); } } // Set the location of several LEDs arranged in a grid. The first strip is // at ‘angle’, measured in radians clockwise from +X. // (x,y) is the center of the grid. void ledGrid(int index, int stripLength, int numStrips, float x, float y, float ledSpacing, float stripSpacing, float

107

Sofware angle, boolean zigzag) { float s = sin(angle + HALF_PI); float c = cos(angle + HALF_PI); for (int i = 0; i < numStrips; i++) { ledStrip(index + stripLength * i, stripLength, x + (i - (numStrips-1)/2.0) * stripSpacing * c, y + (i - (numStrips-1)/2.0) * stripSpacing * s, ledSpacing, angle, zigzag && (i % 2) == 1); } } // Set the location of 64 LEDs arranged in a uniform 8x8 grid. // (x,y) is the center of the grid. void ledGrid8x8(int index, float x, float y, float spacing, float angle, boolean zigzag) { ledGrid(index, 8, 8, x, y, spacing, spacing, angle, zigzag); } // Should the pixel sampling locations be visible? This helps with debugging. // Showing locations is enabled by default. You might need to disable it if our drawing // is interfering with your processing sketch, or if you’d simply like the screen to be // less cluttered. void showLocations(boolean enabled) { enableShowLocations = enabled; } // Enable or disable dithering. Dithering avoids the “stair-stepping” artifact and increases color // resolution by quickly jittering between adjacent 8-bit brightness levels about 400 times a second. // Dithering is on by default.

108 Appendix

void setDithering(boolean enabled) { if (enabled) firmwareConfig &= ~0x01; else firmwareConfig |= 0x01; sendFirmwareConfigPacket(); } // Enable or disable frame interpolation. Interpolation automatically blends between consecutive frames // in hardware, and it does so with 16-bit per channel resolution. Combined with dithering, this helps make // fades very smooth. Interpolation is on by default. void setInterpolation(boolean enabled) { if (enabled) firmwareConfig &= ~0x02; else firmwareConfig |= 0x02; sendFirmwareConfigPacket(); } // Put the Fadecandy onboard LED under automatic control. It blinks any time the firmware processes a packet. // This is the default configuration for the LED. void statusLedAuto() { firmwareConfig &= 0x0C; sendFirmwareConfigPacket(); } // Manually turn the Fadecandy onboard LED on or off. This disables automatic LED control. void setStatusLed(boolean on) { firmwareConfig |= 0x04; // Manual LED control

}

if (on) firmwareConfig |= 0x08; else firmwareConfig &= ~0x08; sendFirmwareConfigPacket();

// Set the color correction parameters void setColorCorrection(float gamma, float red, float green, float blue) { colorCorrection = “{ \”gamma\”: “ + gamma + “, \”whitepoint\”: [“ + red + “,” + green + “,” + blue + “]}”; sendColorCorrectionPacket(); } // Set custom color correction parameters from a string void setColorCorrection(String s) { colorCorrection = s; sendColorCorrectionPacket(); } // Send a packet with the current firmware configuration settings void sendFirmwareConfigPacket() { if (output == null) { // We’ll do this when we reconnect return; } byte[] packet = new byte[9]; packet[0] = 0; // Channel (reserved) packet[1] = (byte)0xFF; // Command (System Exclusive) packet[2] = 0; // Length high byte packet[3] = 5; // Length low byte packet[4] = 0x00; // System ID high byte packet[5] = 0x01; // System ID low byte

packet[6] = 0x00; // Command ID high byte packet[7] = 0x02; // Command ID low byte packet[8] = firmwareConfig;

}

try { output.write(packet); } catch (Exception e) { dispose(); }

// Send a packet with the current color correction settings void sendColorCorrectionPacket() { if (colorCorrection == null) { // No color correction defined return; } if (output == null) { // We’ll do this when we reconnect return; } byte[] content = colorCorrection.getBytes(); int packetLen = content.length + 4; byte[] header = new byte[8]; header[0] = 0; // Channel (reserved) header[1] = (byte)0xFF; // Command (System Exclusive) header[2] = (byte)(packetLen >> 8); header[3] = (byte)(packetLen & 0xFF); header[4] = 0x00; // System ID high byte header[5] = 0x01; // System ID low byte header[6] = 0x00; // Command ID high byte header[7] = 0x01; // Command ID low byte try { output.write(header);

109

Sofware

}

output.write(content); } catch (Exception e) { dispose(); }

// Automatically called at the end of each draw(). // This handles the automatic Pixel to LED mapping. // If you aren’t using that mapping, this function has no effect. // In that case, you can call setPixelCount(), setPixel(), and writePixels() // separately. void draw() { if (pixelLocations == null) { // No pixels defined yet return; } if (output == null) { // Try to (re)connect connect(); } if (output == null) { return; } int numPixels = pixelLocations.length; int ledAddress = 4; setPixelCount(numPixels); loadPixels(); for (int i = 0; i < numPixels; i++) { int pixelLocation = pixelLocations[i]; int pixel = pixels[pixelLocation]; packetData[ledAddress] = (byte)(pixel >> 16);

110 Appendix

8);

}

packetData[ledAddress + 1] = (byte)(pixel >> packetData[ledAddress + 2] = (byte)pixel; ledAddress += 3; if (enableShowLocations) { pixels[pixelLocation] = 0xFFFFFF ^ pixel; }

writePixels();

}

if (enableShowLocations) { updatePixels(); }

// Change the number of pixels in our output packet. // This is normally not needed; the output packet is automatically sized // by draw() and by setPixel(). void setPixelCount(int numPixels) { int numBytes = 3 * numPixels; int packetLen = 4 + numBytes; if (packetData == null || packetData.length != packetLen) { // Set up our packet buffer packetData = new byte[packetLen]; packetData[0] = 0; // Channel packetData[1] = 0; // Command (Set pixel colors) packetData[2] = (byte)(numBytes >> 8); packetData[3] = (byte)(numBytes & 0xFF); } } // Directly manipulate a pixel in the output buffer. This isn’t needed // for pixels that are mapped to the screen. void setPixel(int number, color c)

{

connect(); } if (output == null) { return; }

int offset = 4 + number * 3; if (packetData == null || packetData.length < offset + 3) { setPixelCount(number + 1); }

}

packetData[offset] = (byte) (c >> 16); packetData[offset + 1] = (byte) (c >> 8); packetData[offset + 2] = (byte) c;

// Read a pixel from the output buffer. If the pixel was mapped to the display, // this returns the value we captured on the previous frame. color getPixel(int number) { int offset = 4 + number * 3; if (packetData == null || packetData.length < offset + 3) { return 0; } return (packetData[offset] << 16) | (packetData[offset + 1] << 8) | packetData[offset + 2]; } // Transmit our current buffer of pixel values to the OPC server. This is handled // automatically in draw() if any pixels are mapped to the screen, but if you haven’t // mapped any pixels to the screen you’ll want to call this directly. void writePixels() { if (packetData == null || packetData.length == 0) { // No pixel buffer return; } if (output == null) { // Try to (re)connect

}

try { output.write(packetData); } catch (Exception e) { dispose(); }

void dispose() { // Destroy the socket. Called internally when we’ve disconnected. if (output != null) { println(“Disconnected from OPC server”); } socket = null; output = null; } void connect() { // Try to connect to the OPC server. This normally happens automatically in draw() try { socket = new Socket(host, port); socket.setTcpNoDelay(true); output = socket.getOutputStream(); println(“Connected to OPC server”); } catch (ConnectException e) { dispose(); } catch (IOException e) { dispose(); }

}

}

sendColorCorrectionPacket(); sendFirmwareConfigPacket();

111

Sofware

Kinect MotionTracking /*import org.openkinect.freenect.*; import org.openkinect.processing.*;

//get the actual number of devices before creating them numDevices = Kinect.countDevices(); println("number of Kinect v1 devices "+numDevices); //creat the arraylist multiKinect = new ArrayList<Kinect>();

Kinect kinect; void setup() { size(620, 520); kinect = new Kinect(this); kinect.initDepth(); kinect.initVideo(); } void draw() { background(0); PImage img = kinect.getDepthImage(); image(img, 0, 0); }*/ import org.openkinect.freenect.*; import org.openkinect.processing.*; ArrayList<Kinect> multiKinect; boolean ir = false; boolean colorDepth = false; int numDevices = 0; //index to change the current device changes int deviceIndex = 0; float deg = 0; void setup() { size(1024, 720);

112 Appendix

//iterate though all the devices and activate them for (int i = 0; i < numDevices; i++) { Kinect tmpKinect = new Kinect(this); tmpKinect.activateDevice(i); tmpKinect.initDepth(); tmpKinect.initVideo(); tmpKinect.enableColorDepth(colorDepth); }

multiKinect.add(tmpKinect);

} void draw() { background(0); //iterat though the array of kinects for (int i = 0; i < multiKinect.size(); i++) { Kinect tmpKinect = (Kinect)multiKinect. get(i); //make the kinects capture smaller to fit the window image(tmpKinect.getVideoImage(), 0, 240*i, 320, 240); image(tmpKinect.getDepthImage(), 320, 240*i, 320, 240); }

fill(255); text("Device Count: " +numDevices + " \n" + "Current Index: "+deviceIndex, 660, 50, 150, 50); text( "Press 'i' to enable/disable between video image and IR image \n" + "Press 'c' to enable/disable between color depth and gray scale depth \n" + "UP and DOWN to tilt camera : "+deg+" \n" + "Framerate: " + int(frameRate), 660, 100, 280, 250); }

}

}

deg--; } deg = constrain(deg, 0, 30); multiKinect.get(deviceIndex).setTilt(deg);

void keyPressed() { if (key == '-') { if(deviceIndex > 0 && numDevices > 0){ deviceIndex--; deg = multiKinect.get(deviceIndex).getTilt(); } } if (key == '+') { if(deviceIndex < numDevices - 1){ deviceIndex++; deg = multiKinect.get(deviceIndex).getTilt(); } } if (key == 'i') { ir = !ir; multiKinect.get(deviceIndex).enableIR(ir); } else if (key == 'c') { colorDepth = !colorDepth; multiKinect.get(deviceIndex).enableColorDepth(colorDepth); } else if (key == CODED) { if (keyCode == UP) { deg++; } else if (keyCode == DOWN) {

113

Sofware int skip = 10;

Kinect Point Grid import org.openkinect.freenect.*; import org.openkinect.processing.*; // Kinect Library object Kinect kinect; // Angle for rotation float a = 0; // We’ll use a lookup table so that we don’t have to repeat the math over and over float[] depthLookUp = new float[2048]; void setup() { // Rendering in P3D frameRate(24); size(800, 600, P3D); kinect = new Kinect(this); kinect.initDepth(); // Lookup table for all possible depth values (0 - 2047) for (int i = 0; i < depthLookUp.length; i++) { depthLookUp[i] = rawDepthToMeters(i); } }

// Translate and rotate translate(width/2, height/2, -50); //rotateY(a); // Nested for loop that initializes x and y pixels and, for those less than the // maximum threshold and at every skiping point, the offset is caculated to map // them on a plane instead of just a line for (int x = 0; x < kinect.width; x += skip) { for (int y = 0; y < kinect.height; y += skip) { int offset = x + y*kinect.width; // Convert kinect data to world xyz coordinate int rawDepth = depth[offset]; PVector v = depthToWorld(x, y, rawDepth); stroke(255,0,0); strokeWeight(1); pushMatrix(); // Scale up by 200 float factor = 200; translate(v.x*factor, v.y*factor, factor-v.z*factor); // Draw a point point(0, 0); popMatrix(); } }

void draw() {

// Rotate a += 0.015f; saveFrame(“Me-####.png”);

background(255); // Get the raw depth as array of integers int[] depth = kinect.getRawDepth(); // We’re just going to calculate and draw every 4th pixel (equivalent of 160x120)

114 Appendix

} // These functions come from: http://graphics. stanford.edu/~mdfisher/Kinect.html float rawDepthToMeters(int depthValue) {

if ((depthValue > 200) && (depthValue < 940)){ return (float)(1.0 / ((double)(depthValue) * -0.0030711016 + 3.3309495161)); } return 0.0f; } // Only needed to make sense of the ouput depth values from the kinect PVector depthToWorld(int x, int y, int depthValue) { final double fx_d = 1.0 / 5.9421434211923247e+02; final double fy_d = 1.0 / 5.9104053696870778e+02; final double cx_d = 3.3930780975300314e+02; final double cy_d = 2.4273913761751615e+02; // Drawing the result vector to give each point its three-dimensional space PVector result = new PVector(); double depth = depthLookUp[depthValue];// rawDepthToMeters(depthValue); result.x = (float)((x - cx_d) * depth * fx_d); result.y = (float)((y - cy_d) * depth * fy_d); result.z =(0); /*result.z = (float)(depth); result.x = (float)((x - cx_d) * depth * fx_d); result.y = (float)((y - cy_d) * depth * fy_d); */ return result; }

115

Prototype Drawings

Plexiglass Envelope

116 Appendix

Plexiglass Structure

117

Wood Plinth

118 Appendix

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â&#x20AC;&#x153; The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.â&#x20AC;?

Arthur C. Clarke