Wednesday, September 25, 2013

LookingOut 3: Jake

Project 1: Cell Phone Disco by Informationlab

Located in an alleyway in Pittsburgh and commissioned by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Cell Phone Disco uses an large array of LEDs to visualize mobile phone traffic nearby.  The piece serves as a reminder that we're constantly surrounded by energy that we can't sense ourselves. It acts as a window to an unseen world.

Project 2: Ocean Mirror with Fragments by Jim Campbell


Jim Campbell uses a dense array of LEDs behind custom glass blocks to create a heavily diffused, low resolution video display. Campbell is known for using different forms of de-ressing and diffusion to create abstractness.  The resulting visuals show familiar patterns that can't be immediately placed.
Technically, the piece is very interesting to me.  Diffusing LEDs is very tricky, and Campbell has been doing it well for a long time.  Compared to incandescents, LEDs are cheap enough to control a very large number of them for  not too much money.

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