Shadows at Burien Arts-A-Glow, 2017. Photo by Patrick Robinson – WestsideSeattle.com
“Shadows” is an interactive light and sound sculpture. An equilateral triangle (2.5m sides) is suspended, point down. The edges of the triangle are illuminated with high-density, addressable LEDs. Each corner of the triangle contains an ultrasound rangefinder, allowing triangulation of an object (i.e. a participant’s arm) within the triangle’s plane. Light and sound are responsive to the participant’s location and movements, animating the sculpture. Together the participant and the sculpture become the art.
The lighting at each edge of the triangle is controlled by an ATMega328 uC (i.e. Moteuino) The location of an object penetrating the plane of the triangle will be known to each edge uC. That is, when a human sticks their arm inside the plane and waves it around, that location information is updated real-time. More technical details are available on GitHub.
Shadows made its debut in January 2017 at Kiwiburn, New Zealand’s regional Burning Man event. Later that year Shadows received a grant from INW and had a successful run at Critical NW in July. In August Shadows went to Lusio, and then in September, Burien Arts-A-Glow.
Shadows at Burien Arts-A-Glow, 2017. Photo by Patrick Robinson – WestsideSeattle.com
Shadows at Critical NW, 2017
Shadows at Kiwiburn, New Zealand, 2017
The edges of the triangle are illuminated with high-density, addressable LEDs and the Light and sound are responsive to the participant’s location and movements.
Shadows at Kiwiburn, New Zealand, 2017
3D printing for rapid prototyping, wireless communication, all-aluminum construction, and real-time sound production as an aspect of interactivity are some of the new techniques leveraged for this project.