Kinetic Light

Endless Dancers

Jingchen Gao

Instructor: Eric Parren

I. Project Description

The inspiration for my project originates from stage performances I have previously watched. Music opera and dancing are art forms that I deeply appreciate. While I thoroughly enjoy the process of spectating performances from the audience seats, I also comprehend the challenges faced by the actual performers during their rehearsals. Hence, I aim to emulate, through a series of dancers assuming various bodily postures, their journey from exhaustion and desmay to gradually rising again to perform under the spotlight, and to return to a phase of rest after the performance. Part of my inspiration also draws from lunar phases. By arranging these dancers’ diverse postures around a circular disc, I seek to convey the notion that human experiences mirror the phases of the moon, exhibiting waxing and waning, just as the lunar cycles do.

I intend to create this project using materials that are overall concise yet effective. Regarding the physical construction, I plan to utilize transparent or semi-transparent acrylic boards, employing laser cutting and engraving techniques to achieve the desired visual effects. I aim to incorporate addressable LED strips to illuminate the project. Simultaneously, for the rotational movement of the base disc, I propose employing a high-torque motor to drive the mechanism. Ideally, I envision my audience experiencing the integration of lunar phases and dance postures through my composition of light and motion, enabling them to perceive the fluctuations in energy and emotions of the dancers.

II. Perspective and Context

Later in the 20th century, “kinetic art” became popular as a specific type of machine art. Kinetic art involved artworks that had actual movement, either through mechanical methods or by using light, sound, or other elements. Kinetic artists aimed to explore the relationship between art, technology, and how people perceive things. They wanted to engage viewers on a sensory level, creating immersive and interactive experiences that challenged the idea of art being still and unchanging. Kinetic art expanded the possibilities of sculpture by incorporating motion as a key element.

As mentioned in our previous readings, machine art now encompasses aspects of digital art. I believe this integration serves as one of the primary objectives of this project, aiming to harmonize light, mechanical movement, and programming. Dance, as an art form performed by the human body, possesses characteristics such as grace, strength, and flexibility, intimately tied to human expression. However, by merging the regularity and orderliness of mechanical movement with the fluidity of dance, as well as integrating the rigidity of machinery with the softness of dance, I aspire to provoke fresh insights into the intersection of human artistry and movement. Simultaneously, drawing inspiration from artist Moholy-Nagy, I seek to explore new possibilities in light and shadow sculpture.

This course, Kinetic Light, aims at incorporating machine art with light art and creating an intriguing effect of kinetic light. I would like to implement this in my project, so I planned to let the motor and the LED strip to interact with each other somehow and create an atmosphere where the audience can clearly sense the existence of both light and movements. Hence, instead of making the project sculpture-like, I came up with the idea of making its appearance similar to a music box. The toy which most of us have been familiar with since our childhood is usually an excellent example of motion, for as soon as we rotate its spring it will start to turn clockwise. By making it like a music box, the audience will be suggested at first sight that these dancing figures are bound to turn. The light can be incorporated nicely as well, since the figures need to be shed light on to look appealing to the audience. Therefore, from the step of designing the shape of Endless Dancers, I have started to implement the practice of kinetic and light art in my project.

As I have mentioned above, I was inspired by artist Moholy-Nagy. His works demonstrate a strong connection to technology and embrace the aesthetic possibilities of machines. One of his famous works “Licht-Raum-Modulator” (Light-Space Modulator, 1930) is an example of a kinetic sculpture. It consists of rotating and reflecting elements that manipulate light and shadow, transforming the surrounding space. Through this play with kinetic functions, Moholy-Nagy expands the expressive potential of sculpture and blurs the boundaries between art and technology. I was amazed by his choice of how the light and motion interact with each other, and this became part of my inspiration when I was brainstorming for my own project.

III. Development & Technical Implementation

As I have noticed above, after doing relevant research on the history of kinetic and light art, I have decided to build a box slightly larger than the upper part of my project to both hide the wires and imitating the look of a music box. Besides, the research process made me start to reflect on the interaction between light and motion. I started to ask myself how I can make the pattern of the LED strip in line with the motion of the DC motor that I use, and the result can be seen in both my Arduino code and the video. In the initial phase of my making process, I have made a plan for my work, and in general I have implemented my plan. As I consider the dancing figures the key of my project, I started by drawing the figures on my iPad and creating ai files of the images on my Adobe Illustrator so that I can use laser cut to cut them out. As I have not learned Ballet myself before, I searched on YouTube and found the video of a female Ballet dancer for my source of inspiration (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV1qLYukTH8&t=13s). I picked a sequence of about 30 seconds  in this video, paused it for multiple times, and depicted the elegant figure of this dancer on my iPad using simple lines. After I have finished 10 different drawings, I made a screenshot of each of them and uploaded them on Illustrator so that I can use the pen tool on Illustrator and create the file for laser cut. This process took me several days in total and is also the place where I have spent most of my effort, but the result was quite worthwhile. Below are the pictures I took during this process:

After finishing this process, since I was unsure how the dancing figures would look like on a round pedestal, and also thanks to my professor who suggested me to make a prototype for my project ahead of time, I cut a simple round pedestal for the figures using cardboard and installed all of them onto the pedestal. Much to my surprise, they look pretty good on the cardboard prototype and the whole project worked surprisingly well when it started to turn (I put it on a turning chair in the IMA studio). I was very excited and took a video of it turning under the lights. The most intriguing part is actually beyond my expectation and is the shadow of the acrylic figures on the cardboard. I didn’t expect that the engravings on the acrylic boards can be clearly shown in the shadows, and in order to keep them, I also changed my choice and decorations of the pedestal of my project.

After that, I started to design the pedestal for my project. I have mentioned before that in order to match the shadows, I changed the design of the pedestal, and indeed I used white acrylic board instead of a semi-transparent one. Besides, I started to think of ways to make the colors on the board more solid in order to better reflect the light and shadows, and I came up with the idea of creating a series of patterns that symbolizes the series of the moon. I searched online for inspiration, and used the same method as I employed before for the dancing figures to engrave them onto the white acrylic board. Basically I first drew on my iPad and then I exported the file onto Illustrator, and used the pen tool to copy them again in the software. I also bought silver paint to color the patterns and make my project prettier. When I asked the fabrication lab assistant Freddie for help, he suggested me to keep the wrap on both sides of the acrylic board, otherwise the board may be ruined by the burn marks of the laser cut machine. I listened to his advice, and it turned out that I became more grateful than I have anticipated. In the beginning I planned to engrave first with the wrap off the board, and then use my brush to paint the board following the engraved patterns, but my brush was way too big than I have imagined, and it would be impossible for me to use that brush to draw thin lines on my pedestal, which would be disastrous for the whole design of it. However, with the wrap still on the board, what I can simply do is to paint freely on the board, make sure that the engraved white parts were fully covered by the silver paint, and in the end peel the wrap off so that all the unnecessary paints can be removed from the board. I did so and the result was very satisfactory, and I really appreciate Freddie for his kind advice. He may not have expected what I was going to do with the board, but his suggestion has made my making process much easier.

The next process is to fix the figures on the board. In order to do that, I used the transparent acrylic glue as well as the glue gun to make sure that the fixation is solid enough. I also used the extra silver paint to paint my whole wooden box I made as the pedestal silver, so that it can better integrate with the style of my whole project. I want to express a bit of my excitedness here. The time when the first dancing figure stood on the acrylic board, I was so deeply touched that I stopped for quite some moment. At that time I suddenly had the feeling or maybe fantasy that all the dancing figures were alive, and they were indeed dancing freely under the moonlight. I realized that every project that I have and will spend effort in is like a child of mine, which needs time and effort to grow but will bring me surprise and sentiment in the end.

As I have finished my physical fabrication process, the next step is to build the circuit for both the motor and the LED strip and the motor and write the code. For the circuit, I just combined the circuits of a 12V DC motor and that of a 12V analog LED strip that were in the class slides. And for the code, I struggled a bit when I was trying to come up with patterns of the interactions between the strip and the motor, but overall the process went rather smoothly. I also employed 3D printing to generate a new shaft to fix on my motor and connect the motor and the acrylic board. Here I want to give my special thanks to my professor Eric Parren and the fabrication lab manager Dalin. Eric saved me from the soldering process which I failed multiple times, while Dalin patiently adjusted the 3D printing machine for me. Without their help I could never have finished building my project in such a smooth way.

Below are relevant pictures and the code:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zj58S85vD57IOe-aRFfoamDShaGEeDsR/view?usp=share_link

#include 

#define MOTOR_PIN 3
#define RED_LED_PIN 9
#define BLUE_LED_PIN 6
#define GREEN_LED_PIN 5


void setup() {
  pinMode(MOTOR_PIN, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(RED_LED_PIN, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(BLUE_LED_PIN, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(GREEN_LED_PIN, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
  // Step 1: Motor turns for 10 seconds, LEDs fade on and off
  analogWrite(3, 90);
  for (int brightness = 0; brightness < 255; brightness++) { analogWrite(RED_LED_PIN, brightness); analogWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, brightness); analogWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, brightness); delay(19); // Adjust the delay to control the speed of fading } // Fade out white for (int brightness = 255; brightness > 0; brightness--) {
    analogWrite(RED_LED_PIN, brightness);
    analogWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, brightness);
    analogWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, brightness);
    delay(19);
  }

  // Step 2: Motor slower for 10 seconds, LEDs stays on
  analogWrite(3, 70);
  analogWrite(RED_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, 255);
  delay(10000);

  // Step 3: Motor turns on and off for 10 seconds, LEDs blinks for 10 seconds
  analogWrite(3, 80);
  digitalWrite(RED_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, LOW);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(3, LOW);
  analogWrite(RED_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, 255);
  delay(1000);
  analogWrite(3, 80);
  digitalWrite(RED_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, LOW);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(3, LOW);
  analogWrite(RED_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, 255);
  delay(1000);
  analogWrite(3, 80);
  digitalWrite(RED_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, LOW);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(3, LOW);
  analogWrite(RED_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, 255);
  delay(1000);
  analogWrite(3, 80);
  digitalWrite(RED_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, LOW);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(3, LOW);
  analogWrite(RED_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, 255);
  delay(1000);
  analogWrite(3, 80);
  digitalWrite(RED_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, LOW);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(3, LOW);
  analogWrite(RED_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, 255);
  delay(1000);

  // Step 4: Motor spins fast for 10 seconds, LEDs blink five times
  analogWrite(3, 150);
  analogWrite(RED_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, 255);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(RED_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, LOW);
  delay(1000);

  analogWrite(RED_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, 255);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(RED_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, LOW);
  delay(1000);

  analogWrite(RED_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, 255);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(RED_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, LOW);
  delay(1000);

  analogWrite(RED_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, 255);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(RED_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, LOW);
  delay(1000);

  analogWrite(RED_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, 255);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(RED_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, LOW);
  delay(1000);


  // Step 5: Motor on for 10 seconds, whole strip fades
  analogWrite(3, 100);
  for (int brightness = 0; brightness < 255; brightness++) { analogWrite(RED_LED_PIN, brightness); analogWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, brightness); analogWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, brightness); delay(19); // Adjust the delay to control the speed of fading } // Fade out white for (int brightness = 255; brightness > 0; brightness--) {
    analogWrite(RED_LED_PIN, brightness);
    analogWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, brightness);
    analogWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, brightness);
    delay(19);
  }

  // Step 6: Motor off for 10 seconds, LEDs blink twice and stays on
  digitalWrite(3, LOW);
  analogWrite(RED_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, 255);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(RED_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, LOW);
  delay(1000);
  analogWrite(RED_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, 255);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(RED_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, LOW);
  digitalWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, LOW);
  delay(1000);
  analogWrite(RED_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(BLUE_LED_PIN, 255);
  analogWrite(GREEN_LED_PIN, 255);
  delay(6000);
}
 

After I have finished the fabrication, resembling, and coding part, the building process of my project has come to an end. Basically, the movement of the motor will continue for a long time, but the speed and the rhythm of spinning will vary. I have also added a longer pause after each round of movements to symbolize the rest of the ballet dancers as well as the lunar eclipse. The light effect is decided based on the kinetic part, and I interlaced the light and the motion intentionally to make sure that the interaction is neither too boring nor too distracting. As suggested by my professor, the project does not aim at creating an interactive experience between the project itself and the audience. Instead, it should be designed as an intriguing kinetic light sculpture which can catch the attention of the audience. The audience can stand either near it or afar to feel the atmosphere and emotions that are brought about by the installation, and that is my purpose as well. I hope that by looking at the endless dancers and immersing oneself in the kinetic light dream, one can have a glance into the wax and wane of the lunar phase as well as the emotions of the dancers.

 

 

IV. Presentation

The presentation went well during both class and the IMA show, which means that nothing went wrong and it functioned appropriately. My classmates and friends have expressed their likes for this project, especially for the acrylic dancing figures on the top, and it looked beautiful in the darkness. To my surprise, though the shadows on the white pedestal disappeared during my presentation in class, they appeared again during the IMA show due to the brightness of the whole environment created collectively by other Kinetic Light projects. What’s more, there are even shadows on the wall behind my project as pointed out by a professor in our school, which created diversity for the endless dancers.

However, thanks to the suggestions, I also realized that my project is far below perfection. During class, my classmate pointed out that I could have created a more appealing light effect by using the digital LED strip instead of the analog one. This is also the problem I realized during my previous conversation with my professor, but in the end I didn’t hold tight to the idea because the length of my digital LED strip is way shorter than my analog strip and is not enough for my project. I could have prepared in advance to avoid this problem. Meanwhile, as pointed out by my professor, I could have made the LEDs pointing inwards than letting them face the audience. These are the problems that I didn’t manage to solve before the presentation, and I do feel that my project has a lot to improve. 

In general, the presentation part ran smoothly and I was more than happy to see that my project acted exactly as I had expected. To be honest, in my past projects there would always be some small problems during the final presentation, but this time it just went very well. Though knowing I still have a long way to go in the future, I feel proud when I heard my professor say “beautiful, congratulations” and when my friends told me how much they like my Endless Dancers.

V. Conclusion

In all, the whole making process went well and everything was on track. I believe the biggest reason is that my professor has given us enough time (about a month!) to plan our building process carefully and left us much more space for revision. Meanwhile, I also became more experienced during my past year studying at NYUSH IMA.

The biggest thing I learned is not about the project itself but about my building process of the final project. It was that the biggest improvements of a project come from the conversation between the creator and the project. This idea came from a field trip to The West Bund Museum. I watched a video there created by an artist call Gao Yan, who created a series of artwork called Octopus Mountain. In that video, she said that when you put endeavor into your work, not everything will go as you expected. However, it is the feedback and reflection from your project that will give you new inspiration and will also lead you to the way that you may have never anticipated, but will benefit you and your work to a great extent. That applies to my situation as well. When I asked Freddie for help to engrave the patterns on the white pedestal, I didn’t expect that his suggestion of not peeling the wrap off at first will benefit me in such a great way. Besides, my interaction with other people such as Dalin and my professor Eric both taught me a lot. The biggest thing that moved me during my building process is that when I have just finished the cardboard prototype, installed the acrylic dancing figures onto the cardboard, put them on a chair and started to turn them, the shadows really moved me, amazed me, and made me want to cry. It suddenly gave me a sense that I have not noticed before in my past year of learning that somehow my artworks are alive. They are not really alive, but alive in a way which can talk to me and give me new inspiration. If I didn’t build the cardboard prototype I wouldn’t have realized that the interaction between motion and light can create such a stunning light and shadow effect, and if I didn’t participate in the IMA show, I wouldn’t have realized that the projection of the dancing figures on the wall can also create the beautiful shadows. I realized during the building process of this project that new inspiration comes from hands-on experiences, comes from the interaction between me and my project, and comes from my action, not envision. This is the thing that moves me the most, and I really hope that during my future endeavors, I can put more effort in immersing myself in the interaction and communication between me and my project, listen to what my project wants to convey and improve myself together with my artworks.

In terms of what I failed at, I have mentioned it during the presentation part of my documentation, and that works the same with what I succeeded at. When it comes to what I can improve and what I want to do in the future, I wish I could be more experienced at coding in order to create a more complex pattern on the LED strip or other media. I feel that I have improved my fabrication skills a lot during my past year of learning in Interaction Lab and Kinetic Light, but as I didn’t put much effort in improving my coding skill, I feel that compared to my ability in fabrication, my coding is still very weak. I hope that I can improve both in my coding part and in the depth of my ideas and inspiration so that I can both improve my projects at technical level and enhance my own creativity.

Overall, I really want to express my thanks to this class, to both my professor, Eric Parren, and my classmates who have either worked with me or gave me critical and extremely helpful suggestions on how to improve my project. I really grew a lot during this semester. Besides, as a freshman, this class is also the first elective of IMA that I have taken at NYU Shanghai. Unlike interaction lab which is a foundational course, this elective really exposed me to some really hardworking and talented sophomores, juniors and seniors that are highly outstanding, and I wish that by my own effort I can become someone like them in the future. By immersing myself in such an artistic class, I feel that my ability has enhanced quite a lot, not only at the technical level, but also in terms of my own feelings of art and how I want to express the art of myself. I feel that just like Interaction Lab, this class Kinetic Light is a very typical IMA class in our school. It is like a Utopia where every one of us can express ourselves freely and convey what we feel is the best of art in our own ways. I really appreciate this environment and feel more than touched to interact with the whole class as well as the professor throughout the past half year. This class has given me confidence and inspiration, and also most importantly, has strengthened my determination of majoring in IMA. Again I really appreciate all that I have encountered in this class. It is really my honor to study here, and I feel grateful to carry out my plan for Endless Dancers and make it to the end of IMA show. Thank you so much.

 

The words “machine art” and “kinetic art” have been historically used to describe different aspects of art related to machines and movement. Over time, their meanings have changed as technology and art have evolved. However, these terms are still used to describe artworks that involve machines, movement, and the relationship between art and technology.

In the early 1900s, “machine art” emerged as a response to the growth of industry and the increasing presence of machines in society. It referred to artworks that took inspiration from machines, their appearance, and their impact on people’s lives. Machine art focused on the mechanical and practical aspects of machines and how they influenced artistic expression, and it also included artistic expressions that explored the artistic and symbolic aspects of machines. This included looking at the social meanings of technology and using mechanics to describe elements of human culture and psychology. Artists like Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp, and Jean Tinguely were associated with this machine aesthetic. Later in the 20th century, “kinetic art” became popular as a specific type of machine art. Kinetic art involved artworks that had actual movement, either through mechanical methods or by using light, sound, or other elements. Kinetic artists aimed to explore the relationship between art, technology, and how people perceive things. They wanted to engage viewers on a sensory level, creating immersive and interactive experiences that challenged the idea of art being still and unchanging. Kinetic art expanded the possibilities of sculpture by incorporating motion as a key element. Artists such as Jean Tinguely, Alexander Calder, and Victor Vasarely played significant roles in the development of kinetic art.

Over time, the meanings of these terms have changed as technology has advanced and art has evolved. The term “machine art” has become broader and more inclusive. It now includes many different ways that artists can use machines, technology, and their cultural impact in their work. This can include things like digital art, art made with computers, and artworks that explore how machines affect people’s lives today. The author suggests that machines can be seen as a specific kind of relationship between people and the structures or devices that shape how we think and act. This contains technical, social, and psychological aspects. The author also talks about how gender plays a role in how people relate to technology, looking at how men and women have different access and use of technical systems. Similarly, “kinetic art” has also changed and grown. Artists can now use electronics, robots, and interactive elements to make art that is dynamic and immersive. It’s not just about physical movement anymore, but also about incorporating digital and interactive technologies into the artwork.

One of the artists mentioned in the article is Marcel Duchamp. He was a prominent artist associated with the Dada and Surrealist movements, known for his innovative approach to art and his exploration of the relationship between art and technology. His work “Fountain” (1917), a urinal signed with the pseudonym “R. Mutt,” challenges the traditional notions of artistic ingenuity and provoke discussions about the value and meaning of art in a consumerist society. By presenting ordinary, manufactured objects as art, Duchamp raises questions about the role and significance of machines in society. This highly aligns with the aspect of associative references to social meanings, as mentioned by Broeckmann in his book. Another famous work of Duchamp is “Bicycle Wheel” (1913). It consists of a bicycle wheel mounted on a stool, creating a hybrid object. Duchamp’s choice of an everyday functional object and its presentation as an artwork highlights the aesthetic qualities of the machine’s design, focusing on its form, balance, and visual appeal, which corresponds with the aspect of formalist appraisal of functional forms.

The other artist that I found interesting was Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. His works demonstrate a strong connection to technology and embrace the aesthetic possibilities of machines. In his painting “Construction AL6” (1928), he combines geometric forms and industrial materials to create an abstract composition that symbolizes the modern machine age and the technological advancements of the time, which also follows the aspect of associative references to social meanings. Meanwhile, his “Licht-Raum-Modulator” (Light-Space Modulator, 1930) is an example of a kinetic sculpture. It consists of rotating and reflecting elements that manipulate light and shadow, transforming the surrounding space. Through this play with kinetic functions, Moholy-Nagy expands the expressive potential of sculpture and blurs the boundaries between art and technology.

This assignment is probably the most hands-on one in this class. It basically asks us to use the print outs of the models of one cam, one crank and one gear to make mechanisms and decorate them as we wish. Nevertheless, though seemed to be very easy, we actually encountered a lot of problems during the building process.

First of all, we started to build the mechanisms according to the instructions in the provided pdf document. Though my partner and I were both trying our best, there were always little details that we failed to carry out 100% perfectly. The accumulative effect of such little imperfections led to the intermittent movements of the mechanisms later on when we were testing them, but we discovered it too late. Luckily, overall the little gadgets worked well, and since we discovered during the presentation that almost every group had the same problem as we did, we started to realize that this may be an intrinsic limitation of paper mechanisms. Nevertheless, we do have to pay more attention in the future so as to carry out the processes in a better manner.

One of the small tricks that I found to be useful was that when cutting the teeth on the gears, I could use the knife to cut the inner lines first and then use the scissors to cut other lines, instead of sticking to the scissors in the beginning which would make the junction parts rough.

These two parts below were EXTREMELY difficult to be glued together, and even a tiny error could result in the flawed motion of the gears.

Another tip that I found helpful was that when folding a narrow piece of paper, I could use a ruler as an external tool. This saved a lot of time and added to the flatness of the surfaces.

After we have finished the building part, we started to generate ideas about decoration. I suddenly thought of the music box, a childhood toy whose appearance looks similar to these mechanisms because their main parts are both driven by the manual rotation of a handle. Therefore, we started to paint them, with the first one being designed as a doll and a teddy bear dancing with each other, the second one a basketball trying to reach the hoop, and the third one a train running across the vast field. However, a disaster nearly happened due to my inattention to the common sense that paints need time to dry, and wet paints can glue one paper part onto another. Fortunately, I separated them carefully and they started to function again.

Overall, this assignment brought us a lot of fun while introducing the basic mechanisms to us effectively at the same time. I really enjoyed working on these cute paper mechanisms!

 

 

Dangling

Jingchen Gao

I. Project description

My inspiration of this project was that I wanted to create an installation which goes beyond a still sculpture and involves the interaction and participation of the audience. Therefore, I had come up with the idea of hanging some light objects from the ceiling and inviting people to walk through them. This notion further inspired me that I could use this installation to symbolize the different obstacles that we would
encounter in our lives, such as the pressure of school application, difficult relationships with others, problems in raising children and so on. I intended to create abstract patterns and use various external decorations such as irregular pieces of glass and cotton to make these dangling objects. After talking to my professor, I decided not to make the shapes too concrete to represent the meanings I impose on them. Instead, I would like to use the changes in color and brightness to invoke the audiences’ own interpretation of my light installation.

My initial intention was that I would like to hang the light objects from the ceiling, and fix the whole wiring part near the ceiling so that people wouldn’t be bothered by the wires on the ground. What’s more, I also wanted to introduce air blowers to add motion to my installation. By doing this, people will need to change their positions when interacting with this project so that they wouldn’t be hit by the objects hanging from above. This adds more interaction to the users’ experience and creates a change in space over time.

II. Perspective and Context

One thing that inspired me the most during my previous learning is the term synesthesia, indicating that some people may have the ability to link one (or more) sensory with another, thus having a transaction between different perceptions. This is one of the most important reasons for me to try to introduce the air blower and create physical motion in my project, because by doing that my intention is that the body movements and vision of the audience can be related together, thus form a similar effect as synesthesia does to people who have it.

Another thing that I was reminded of is the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty. The most crucial feature of this philosophy is that it prioritizes the experiences of individuals, and argues that the aesthetics of people comes from their own experiences of relevant conditions. I didn’t realize that until my professor suggested me in his feedback on my proposal that I should not create too concrete things which display exactly the concepts I wanted to convey. Instead, I should work on the variation of the dangling objects and leave room for the audience to generate their own interpretations. 

In general, my initial purpose was to create an installation of a series of dangling objects, with each of them displaying a different light effect. Meanwhile, by introducing the kinetic factor of air blower, I intended to engage the audience in the interaction with my project and invoke their feeling similar to synesthesia and their subjective understanding of the dangling objects that I created.

III. Development & Technical Implementation

I started from the physical fabrication and installation part which I considered to be the foundation of the coding and the wiring parts. As my idea was to create several objects which are distinctive from each other, I came up with different ideas about how to make each of them and started separately. I started with one half of a tube made by mirrors that I ordered on Taobao, and intertwined a yellow EL wire onto it. After that, I built several other objects made by materials that either I had or I ordered  on Taobao to finish this physical creation part. During this process, I utilized laser cutting, and enhanced my ability of hands-on work by using pliers to bend iron wires, polishing acrylic boards with sandpaper, folding paper into various shapes, and so on. These are the abilities that I would never achieve if I didn’t do these hands-on works, and I appreciate that a lot.

Having finished this part, I started to build the circuit of this project. I referred to the class slides and combined the circuit of all objects in one breadboard. One thing that I tried out at this stage was that I tried to use a transistor for several lighting objects. It seemed to work well in the beginning, so I just kept it and used the glue gun to secure the whole circuit.

Then, I wrote the code for my project. The code was easy, because both my professor and I thought that it would be better if I focus more on the shapes and looks of the objects instead of the complexity of the code. Therefore, I used basically the “blink” and “fade” function in the Arduino to light up my objects.

//pick a plywood, drill four holes, build the circuit and glue everything together!
//dont forget about the air blower!!!

//white neon tube: connected directly to the power supply (breadboard 1)
//yellow neon tube: fade 6 (breadboard 1)
//green neon tube: fade 10 (breadboard 1)
//EL wire: blink 9 (breadboard 1)
//red neon tube: blink 5 (breadboard 2)
//halogen bulb 1 (feather): blink 11 (breadboard 2)
//halogen bulb 2 (glass box): connected directly to the power supply (breadboard 2)
//analog LED strip : fade 3 (breadboard 2)


int brightness = 0;
int fadeAmount1 = 5;
int fadeAmount2 = 5;
int fadeAmount3 = 5;

void setup() {
  pinMode(6, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(5, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(3, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(11, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(10, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(9, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
  analogWrite(6, brightness);
  brightness = brightness + fadeAmount1;
  if (brightness <= 0 || brightness >= 255) {
    fadeAmount1 = -fadeAmount1;
  }
  delay(30);

  analogWrite(10, brightness);
  brightness = brightness + fadeAmount2;
  if (brightness <= 0 || brightness >= 255) {
    fadeAmount2 = -fadeAmount2;
  }
  delay(30);

  digitalWrite(9, HIGH);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(9, LOW);
  delay(1000);

  digitalWrite(5, HIGH);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(5, LOW);
  delay(1000);

  digitalWrite(11, HIGH);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(11, LOW);
  delay(1000);

  digitalWrite(9, HIGH);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(9, LOW);
  delay(100);

  analogWrite(3, brightness);
  brightness = brightness + fadeAmount3;
  if (brightness <= 0 || brightness >= 255) {
    fadeAmount3 = -fadeAmount3;
  }
  delay(30);
}

Here is the link to my Arduino code in the Google Drive folder:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1k21VBfOEJiNWq-h65GKsnVgKdZsPIJ8s

However, there were a lot of problems before the final presentation due to the timing problem. First of all, some of the objects just stopped working before the final presentation. Later when I was disassembling the project, I found out that it was because one transistor burnt out before the presentation starts, which proved that one transistor may not be able to function several objects at the same time. Meanwhile, there were also some attachment problems, for example the words attached to one of the neon tubes would only light the tube up at one certain angle. All of these are problems that I should pay attention to in the future.

When it comes to the final implementation, basically I just hang my installation from the ceiling, and the audience could sit around it and look at it when the lights changed. The six objects changed at their own rhythm both in light and in motion, but altogether they formed a space where all kinds of light generated by neon tubes, halogen light bulbs and analog LED strips echoed with each other and generated a place where all of us could sit down , rest for a while and reflect back upon our own memories and generate our own understanding of the installation as a whole.

IV. Presentation

The biggest problem before or during presentation was that I was running out of time. I didn’t even start to hang the objects onto the ceiling before the class starts. Meanwhile, when I was carrying out the last step of installation, a lot of things went wrong. When my presentation started, at first the green neon tube didn’t turn on, but later on it functioned in the way I expected it to do, and one white neon tube didn’t turn on from beginning to end. Besides, I didn’t had sufficient time to hang the board with my computer and all the wires on it to the ceiling, which greatly affected the visual experience of the installation itself. One comment given by my professor was that he liked the black nylon ropes I used to hang the dangling objects. This corresponded with my initial intention of informing my audience that the objects were hang from the ceiling, not floating in the air, and is the main reason why I didn’t choose those thinner and transparent ropes to hang my objects. Another suggestion mentioned by one of my classmates is that one of the objects that I coded to blink has too much time to stay in the dark, and this does not align with most other objects which were either fading or staying still. She suggested that I could make that object light up longer, and that would also do good to the visual effect. I consider both comments really helpful and hope to improve more in the future.

When it comes to the air blower, I tried it in advance but it turned out that it was way too noisy and could even surpass my own voice. Nevertheless, during the presentation, as the professor and some of my classmates touched either the ropes or the objects, the installation turned out not to be still and encompassed some motion, which coincidentally melted my initial expectations.

The biggest thing I learnt during this experience was that I should have started earlier in order to make more space for me to make mistakes. Next time I wish I could come up with a more detailed plan about what to do and when to finish so that things wouldn’t end up all in a mess!

Below are some of the photos and videos of my project:

 

V. Conclusion

In general, this project taught me a lot in not only the domain of knowledge and physical fabrication but also the arrangement of time and energy. The research process where I came up with the initial idea went too smooth for me to evaluate the difficulty of this project correctly. I had greatly underestimated the time required for me to finish this project completely and I ended up running out of time. In a word, I was a bit too ambitious in the beginning, but the reality was that I had too much work during the mid-term that I didn’t spend as much time as I anticipated in advance to start earlier. This is indeed something I would like to improve in the future.

Nevertheless, I learned quite a lot during the creation and execution processes of this project. Not only did I improve my fabrication skills and tried coding all by myself for the first time and received success, but I also achieved my ambition in a complete though not perfect way. Therefore, I would like to cherish what I have gained from this precious experience and try to be more mature when carrying out my projects in the future!

This assignment provided me with a precious opportunity to work on the DMX PAR lights which I previously thought that I could only see on the stage. During the working process, we brainstormed about the idea that we would like to address, learned how to install the lights, and gained practical knowledge of coding the lights. It was fun and meaningful to work in a group of six, and I learned how to cooperate with others throughout our communication and collaboration.

We started on Sunday afternoon when all of us gathered together at school to brainstorm ideas of the project. One of our group members suggested that we could use a wood stick to symbolize the sundial, whose history can be traced back to thousands of years ago. Her starting point was that as the lights could not move automatically in either direction or position, we needed to figure out a method to show the change in position of a certain object. However, as it was too troublesome to carry an object in person and move around the room, we could utilize the variation of the shadow in both colors and positions to make our project more intriguing. Therefore, we reached a consensus at this point that we were going to fix a wood stick on the ground and code the lights so that their colors and the rhythm of the whole composition could affect the shadow of the stick and hence make the light show more interesting.

Our interpretation of this project was that as the speed of color change goes from slow to fast, it could represent our school life which is relaxing at first but becomes more and more tense as time flows. At the end of the semester everyone is busy multitasking and we have little time left for ourselves. Meanwhile, the colors can also represent our hobbies and the happy moments in our daily life. As the position of the shadow shifts, our lives proceed at our own speeds as well.

 

After we had made our plan about the assignment, we started to work separately. I participated in the whole process as an assistant in our group. Firstly, another group member and I met together on Tuesday afternoon to complete the physical fabrication part. We first cut the bottom part of our installation under the help of the Fabrication Lab Manager. In this process, both of us were exposed to a new electric saw that we had never seen or used before. Then, we utilized both abrasive paper and the drill to levigate the bottom part of the stick so that it could fit into the hole we dug previously on the pedestal. 

After we had finished the physical fabrication, we started to work on the code, which was the most crucial part of this assignment. One member in our group finished the draft code earlier that day and we were revising that code in the evening. We utilized the example code, what we had learned in class and our existing knowledge to write the code. The biggest problem we encountered, to our surprise, was that the term “dimmer” in the code actually meant “brightness” rather than “to dim”. We recognized this when we were setting the value of the dimmer. We first set it to be 0, because in our expectation the light would become more and more dim as the number grows. However, after uploading the code, the light just wouldn’t turn on. After trying multiple times, we finally recognized that if we want the lights to light up we should set the value of the dimmer to 255. This is definitely a precious lesson that we learned from this experiment, and all of us cheered after seeing that the lights finally worked according to our initial plan.

Below is the video of the final version. I am very grateful for this precious opportunity for group work and access to DMX PAR lights!

 

Below is the final code:

/*
 * 3 DMX controlled LED Par Light example
 * 
 * In this example we're using 3 par lights model Chauvet DJ Eve P-130 RGB
 * Each light can have up to 9 DMX channels to control different
 * functionality of the light. For an overview of the channels
 * look at https://open-fixture-library.org/chauvet-dj/eve-p-130-rgb
 * 
 * For this example the lights should be set to 9 channel DMX mode
 * on the light itself. And, light1 should start at DMX channel 1,
 * light2 at DMX channel 11, and light3 at DMX channel 21.
 * 
 * Each channel can be a value between 0 - 255, which is exactly what
 * the 'byte' datatype can hold. Below, a variable of the byte datatype
 * is declared for each channel of each of the three lights.
 * 
 * Not all of the channels will be usefull in every use case, so don't 
 * worry about the ones that you're not going to use.
 * 
 */

// 9 variables for the DMX channels of light 1
byte light1Dimmer = 0;
byte light1Red = 0;
byte light1Green = 0;
byte light1Blue = 0;
byte light1ColorMacros = 0;
byte light1Strobe = 0;
byte light1AutoPrograms = 0;
byte light1ProgSpeedSoundSens = 0;
byte light1DimmerSpeedMode = 0;

// 9 variables for the DMX channels of light 2
byte light2Dimmer = 0;
byte light2Red = 0;
byte light2Green = 0;
byte light2Blue = 0;
byte light2ColorMacros = 0;
byte light2Strobe = 0;
byte light2AutoPrograms = 0;
byte light2ProgSpeedSoundSens = 0;
byte light2DimmerSpeedMode = 0;

// 9 variables for the DMX channels of light 3
byte light3Dimmer = 0;
byte light3Red = 0;
byte light3Green = 0;
byte light3Blue = 0;
byte light3ColorMacros = 0;
byte light3Strobe = 0;
byte light3AutoPrograms = 0;
byte light3ProgSpeedSoundSens = 0;
byte light3DimmerSpeedMode = 0;

bool stage3shown = false;



// include the DMX library
#include 

// set the maximum amount of channels we'll need
// each light will run 9 DMX channels so 27 is enough
#define DMX_MASTER_CHANNELS 27

// pin number to change read or write mode on the shield
#define RXEN_PIN 2

// configure a DMX master controller, the master controller
// will use the RXEN_PIN to control its write operation on the bus
DMX_Master dmx_master(DMX_MASTER_CHANNELS, RXEN_PIN);



void setup() {

  // Enable DMX master interface and start transmitting
  dmx_master.enable();

  // To be extra safe,
  // let's set channel 1 - 30 to off (0) to start with
  dmx_master.setChannelRange(1, 30, 0);
}

void loop() {
  // In loop we can modify the values of the variables
  // to make the lights do what we want

  //1st period: only one light would be turn on
  //first turn: red, blue, green
  // light1 - red

  //  if(!lightCleared){
  //  clearLight();
  //  }


  if (!stage3shown) {
    delay(2000);
    stage1Red();
    writeDMXdata();
    delay(5000);

    stage1Green();
    writeDMXdata();
    delay(2500);

    stage1Blue();
    writeDMXdata();
    delay(2500);

    stage1Yellow();
    writeDMXdata();
    delay(2500);

    stage1Purple();
    writeDMXdata();
    delay(2500);


    stage1GreenBlue();
    writeDMXdata();
    delay(2500);


    light1Red = 255;
    light1Green = 153;
    light1Blue = 18;

    light2Red = 173;
    light2Green = 255;
    light2Blue = 47;

    light1Dimmer = 255;
    light2Dimmer = 255;
    light3Dimmer = 0;
    writeDMXdata();
    delay(5000);

    light2Red = 216;
    light2Green = 191;
    light2Blue = 216;

    light3Red = 176;
    light3Green = 224;
    light3Blue = 230;

    light1Dimmer = 0;
    light2Dimmer = 255;
    light3Dimmer = 255;
    writeDMXdata();
    delay(5000);

    light3Red = 255;
    light3Green = 182;
    light3Blue = 193;
    light1Red = 0;
    light1Green = 245;
    light1Blue = 255;
    light3Dimmer = 255;
    light1Dimmer = 255;

    light1Dimmer = 255;
    light2Dimmer = 0;
    light3Dimmer = 255;
    writeDMXdata();
    delay(5000);
    stage3shown = true;
  } else {
    stage3();
  }
}

void stage3() {

  light1Red = random(0, 255);
  light1Green = random(0, 255);
  light1Blue = random(0, 255);

  light2Red = random(0, 255);
  light2Green = random(0, 255);
  light2Blue = random(0, 255);

  light3Red = random(0, 255);
  light3Green = random(0, 255);
  light3Blue = random(0, 255);

  light1Dimmer = 255;
  light2Dimmer = 255;
  light3Dimmer = 255;

  writeDMXdata();
  delay(400);
}



//2nd period: 2 lights are turned on together
//还没设颜色
//1+2

/*
 

  
  delay(500);

//.....这里copy and paste and change 上面一段就行，设计一下颜色？
//arrange 灯的位置，两个一起亮的时候是时间点，也可以讲讲concept和故事？颜色-故事-> any connections?


//3rd period: 3 lights are turned on together, random color, speed++

 


  light1Red = random(0,255);
  light1Green = random(0,255);
  light1Blue = random(0,255);

  light2Red = random(0,255);
  light2Green = random(0,255);
  light2Blue = random(0,255);

  light3Red = random(0,255);
  light3Green = random(0,255);
  light3Blue = random(0,255);
  
  light1Dimmer += 2;
  light2Dimmer += 2;
  light3Dimmer += 2;


  light1Red = random(0,255);
  light1Green = random(0,255);
  light1Blue = random(0,255);

  light2Red = random(0,255);
  light2Green = random(0,255);
  light2Blue = random(0,255);

  light3Red = random(0,255);
  light3Green = random(0,255);
  light3Blue = random(0,255);
  
  light1Dimmer += 3;
  light2Dimmer += 3;
  light3Dimmer += 3;








  // write the DMX data to the lights
  // see the function declaration below
  writeDMXdata();

  delay(50);
  */
//}



void stage1Red() {
  light1Red = 255;
  light1Green = 0;
  light1Blue = 0;
  light2Red = 0;
  light2Green = 0;
  light2Blue = 0;
  light3Red = 0;
  light3Green = 0;
  light3Blue = 0;
  light1Dimmer = 255;
}

void stage1Green() {
  light1Red = 0;
  light1Green = 0;
  light1Blue = 0;
  light2Red = 0;
  light2Green = 255;
  light2Blue = 0;
  light3Red = 0;
  light3Green = 0;
  light3Blue = 0;
  light2Dimmer = 255;
}

void stage1Blue() {
  light1Red = 0;
  light1Green = 0;
  light1Blue = 0;

  light2Red = 0;
  light2Green = 0;
  light2Blue = 0;
  light3Red = 0;
  light3Green = 0;
  light3Blue = 255;

  light3Dimmer = 255;
}

void stage1Yellow() {
  light1Red = 255;
  light1Green = 255;
  light1Blue = 0;

  light2Red = 0;
  light2Green = 0;
  light2Blue = 0;
  light3Red = 0;
  light3Green = 0;
  light3Blue = 0;

  light1Dimmer = 255;
}

void stage1Purple() {
  light1Red = 0;
  light1Green = 0;
  light1Blue = 0;

  light2Red = 255;
  light2Green = 0;
  light2Blue = 255;
  light3Red = 0;
  light3Green = 0;
  light3Blue = 0;

  light2Dimmer = 255;
}


void stage1GreenBlue() {
  light1Red = 0;
  light1Green = 0;
  light1Blue = 0;

  light2Red = 0;
  light2Green = 0;
  light2Blue = 0;
  light3Red = 0;
  light3Green = 255;
  light3Blue = 255;

  light3Dimmer = 255;
}




/*
 * This function writes all the values of the variables to
 * the DMX shield which then passes them on to the 
 * the apporpriate channels on the lights.
 * 
 * All the lights should be set to 9-channel DMX mode
 * Light1 has to start on DMX channel 1
 * Light2 has to start on DMX channel 11
 * Light3 has to start on DMX channel 21
 */
void writeDMXdata() {
  // write to channel 1-9 for light1
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(1, light1Dimmer);  // 亮度
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(2, light1Red);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(3, light1Green);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(4, light1Blue);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(5, light1ColorMacros);  // 光宏
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(6, light1Strobe);       //频闪
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(7, light1AutoPrograms);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(8, light1ProgSpeedSoundSens);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(9, light1DimmerSpeedMode);

  // write to channel 11-19 for light2
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(11, light2Dimmer);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(12, light2Red);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(13, light2Green);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(14, light2Blue);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(15, light2ColorMacros);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(16, light2Strobe);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(17, light2AutoPrograms);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(18, light2ProgSpeedSoundSens);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(19, light2DimmerSpeedMode);

  // write to channel 21-29 for light3
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(21, light3Dimmer);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(22, light3Red);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(23, light3Green);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(24, light3Blue);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(25, light3ColorMacros);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(26, light3Strobe);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(27, light3AutoPrograms);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(28, light3ProgSpeedSoundSens);
  dmx_master.setChannelValue(29, light3DimmerSpeedMode);
} 

Our idea for this project is to use the water to create water ripples on the wall in order to create an intriguing light effect. Our inspiration came from my partner when she sent me a video of her using the smartphone flashlight and a water bottle to create some light effects. After watching this video, we decided to work on this idea and use the casting of the water ripples on the walls to make the light fill the entire room.

 

At first, our proposal was to combine two bottles together, put the light installation within the inner bottle and fill the space between the two bottles with water. We spent some time building our bottle installation, and tried different methods such as the lighter and glue gun to fill the gap between the two bottles.

However, it kept leaking so we had to change our plan. Not only did we need a waterproof box for adding water to our project, but we also needed a bigger space for installing the light bulb and the RGB strip. Therefore, I suggested that we could use two separate semi-enclosed acrylic boxes created by laser cutting for our project. We can put one onto the other, fill water into the upper one and put our light installation in the lower one.

After we have cut the transparent boxes, we started to paste the RGB strip inside the box so that it could be fixed. At this point, my partner had come up with the idea that we could also introduce straws and water-soluble pigment into our project so that the ripples projected on the ceiling could be more colorful. And by adding pigment to water and using the straw to blow on the water, our classmates could have more interaction with our project and become more engaged during our presentation.

When choosing the lighting techniques, we first decided to only use the analog RGB strip and make its color blue. However, when testing its effect before class, we found out that its brightness was not enough to project the colorful water ripples onto the ceiling, which differed a lot from our original inspiration, since the effect created by a smartphone flashlight was even stronger than that of the RGB strip. Therefore, we made up our mind to introduce a halogen light bulb to provide more brightness. In the end, we used both the analog RGB strip and the halogen light bulb to create a mixed effect for our project. We simply set the color of the RGB strip blue and lit the light bulb up without any special lighting effects, because we wanted people to focus more on our installation and the interaction with water. 

During the in-class presentation, we displayed both our original idea, which is the (leaking) bottle, and our final installation. The two videos can be seen below.

 

In fact, we have encountered a lot of challenges and difficulties during our process of setting things up. Firstly, we used my analog RGB strip at first, but somehow it just didn’t work. Hence, we spent a lot of time checking and revising the code but nothing worked out. Therefore, we switched to my partner’s strip and it worked quite well. Our guess was that it was because she soldered the wires onto her strip while I used the clip, so maybe mine had a bad attachment. Secondly, we tried hard to prevent the laser-cut boxes from leaking, but in the end it was still not 100% waterproof. The physical installation part was also tiring because the boards were large and the hot glue dries really quickly, so I had trouble glueing two boards together. 

Though the building process was challenging, both of us gained a lot during this precious experience and we also enhanced our ability of tackling unexpected problems. Personally, I enjoy the working experience of this project a lot, and I was really amazed by the final effect when all the lights were off and the water ripples were shone by the light bulbs!

In this assignment which aims at creating a 2 minute composition in light and objects, we chose to utilize an LED Matrix to explore the technology covered in class. My partner got the idea when she was taking an airplane back to her hometown and witnessing the sunrise above the clouds. She suggested that just like a musical composition which has a beginning, middle and end, the color transition from dull red to light blue also forms a complete composition. Therefore, we decided to compose a gradual change of colors to represent different stages of the sunrise within 2 minutes. 

We started by referencing some example code. Below are some photos taken during this process. At this time we didn’t reach the exact effect that we wanted, but we learned a lot by keep making attempts to revise the code and compare them to each other.

When it came to the wiring part, we referred to the Class 03 Slides and built our circuit according to the diagram provided. One thing I noticed here was that when connecting the LED Matrix to the whole circuit, we should connect them by the “DIN” pin rather than the “DOUT” pin on the LED Matrix because we were sending signals to the Matrix and expecting it to give us responds.

When it came to the final code, we referenced this code online (https://gist.github.com/jasoncoon/d54216fc8ce2eb0ecee87f8002d421c5). We spent a lot of time revising the code to make it align with our needs, and I consider this as the most challenging part in our project because both of us are unfamiliar with the code that runs the LED Matrix. Subsequently, we ran the code, and everything seemed to be OK except for the timing part. It took the matrix about 5 minutes to finish the whole transition process, which was way beyond the time limit. Hence we tried to revise different lines of the code, and ultimately we found that the effective way to achieve this was to change the number behind the “sunriseLength * “. Meanwhile, though we didn’t know the reason behind it, it appeared to us that the number should keep one decimal place, otherwise the whole transition process would finish in about 5 seconds.

As we had finished the coding and wiring part, we began to generate ideas about the physical installation. I suggested that we could use laser cut to make a wooden box and add multiple layers of mountains into it. By doing this each wooden piece of mountain would be of different colors. Besides, the reason for us to choose wood instead of other materials was that wood is good at blocking the passage of light, limiting the color of the matrix in the wooden box instead of letting it extend outside the installation. My partner added a semi-transparent acrylic board in the rear of the box, making the light more gentle and the transition process more natural.

So far we have finished all the making processes of our Sunrise project. It was really fun to explore the potential of the LEDs, and we benefited a lot from this hands-on learning experience!

Below are some photos taken at different stages of the Sunrise:

 

Below is the code that we used for our final version:

#include "FastLED.h"

#define NUM_LEDS 64

#define DATA_PIN 3
#define CLOCK_PIN 13

CRGB leds[NUM_LEDS];

void setup() {
  // Uncomment/edit one of the following lines for your leds arrangement.
  //FastLED.addLeds<TM1803, DATA_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  //FastLED.addLeds<TM1804, DATA_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  //FastLED.addLeds<TM1809, DATA_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  //FastLED.addLeds<WS2811, DATA_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  //FastLED.addLeds<WS2812, DATA_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  //FastLED.addLeds<WS2812B, DATA_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  FastLED.addLeds<NEOPIXEL, DATA_PIN>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  //FastLED.addLeds<APA104, DATA_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  //FastLED.addLeds<UCS1903, DATA_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  // FastLED.addLeds<UCS1903B, DATA_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  // FastLED.addLeds<GW6205, DATA_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  // FastLED.addLeds<GW6205_400, DATA_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);

  FastLED.addLeds<WS2801, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  FastLED.addLeds<SM16716, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  // FastLED.addLeds<LPD8806, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  // FastLED.addLeds<P9813, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  // FastLED.addLeds<APA102, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
 FastLED.addLeds<DOTSTAR, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);

  // FastLED.addLeds<WS2801, DATA_PIN, CLOCK_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  // FastLED.addLeds<SM16716, DATA_PIN, CLOCK_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  // FastLED.addLeds<LPD8806, DATA_PIN, CLOCK_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  // FastLED.addLeds<P9813, DATA_PIN, CLOCK_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  // FastLED.addLeds<APA102, DATA_PIN, CLOCK_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
  //FastLED.addLeds<DOTSTAR, DATA_PIN, CLOCK_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);
}

void loop() {
  sunrise();

  FastLED.show();
}

void sunrise() {

  static const uint8_t sunriseLength = 30;

  static const float interval = ((sunriseLength * 6.0) / 270) * 1000;

  static uint8_t heatIndex = 0;

  CRGB color = ColorFromPalette(HeatColors_p, heatIndex);

  fill_solid(leds, NUM_LEDS, color);

  EVERY_N_MILLISECONDS(interval) {
    if (heatIndex < 255) {
      heatIndex++;
    }
  }
} 

Echo Helmet – Jingchen Gao – Eric Parren

I. Project Introduction & Description:

The Echo Helmet is a wearable device aimed to create the echo of one’s own sound within the helmet. By using materials like wood boards and disposable cups, one’s sound can form echoes when it encounters these materials, and they can be further amplified by traveling and reverberating through the space between these materials and therefore reach the effect of amplifying one’s own sound when the person is speaking and listening to his / her voice. Besides, the two transparent cups in front of the eyes can also distort the eyesight to some extent because of the uneven surface on the bottom of the cup.

My intention of making this device is to try to combine our two perceptions – seeing and hearing together and create a semi-enclosed space where we can temporarily isolate ourselves from the outside world and spend time focusing on ourselves and listen to our inner voices. Nowadays as social media is occupying every aspect of our lives and the term “social contact” has extended to both online and offline domains, we spend most of our time either chatting with others on our phones or talking with our friends face to face, and the time we spent alone reflecting on ourselves has been largely reduced. Therefore, by combining the ideas of distorting different modalities of our perception and creating a physically semi-closed space where we can be temporarily cut off from external information, I finally decided to choose this “Echo Helmet” instead of my other options.

II. Perspective & Context

This project is deeply related with our sensory functions and is aimed at combining creation, art and our daily sensory feelings together. Before starting to design this project, I first watched the videos about synesthesia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s32v0rTkey4) and the theory of Merleau-Ponty (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFj8kWm_N-Y). The contents of these videos, though largely differ from each other, were both related to our sensory feelings. In the first video, the speaker claimed that synesthesia happens when one can relate two (or more) sensory feelings together and utilize one to help the other. For example, he mentioned that some people can relate words or numbers with colors or relate different sounds with certain tastes. This special ability may be inborn or cultivated at a young age and usually accompanies the person for the entire life. In the second video which was a brief but insightful introduction to the most crucial theory of Merleau-Ponty, the speaker pointed out that in Merleau-Ponty’s point of view, our thoughts, perceptions and experiences are deeply related to our bodily experiences, which means that we cannot be totally separated from our bodies when forming the cognition of the world as if we are treating things in a totally objective way. Instead, we should focus on our bodily movements and experiences as well. He is against the traditional “dualism” between our minds and bodies and appeal that we should utilize our bodies to actively engage with the external world.

I also read Robert Irwin’s essay “The Process of Compounded Abstraction- Notes Toward a Model” (https://drive.google.com/file/d/10IffU7CT0TfDZ20RFZAqbBnHbLkMrVse/view). In his article, Irwin argues that instead of simply being a process of simplification and reduction, abstraction should involve deeper complexities. This requires our own understanding of the subject, therefore our concept and perception play an important role in the process of abstraction. His idea is somehow similar with the idea of Merleau-Ponty’s, because in my personal understanding both of them agree that our perception of one thing is deeply related to our direct engagement with it and that in-person interaction is very crucial when shaping our understanding and thoughts of an external object.

These ideas benefited me a lot. Firstly, the idea of synesthesia inspired me to connect two different sensory feelings – hearing and seeing – together, and to make a device that could distort both of them at the same time to provoke some connection between the feelings. I also got a new idea of how our bodily experiences may affect our perception, so that’s part of the reason why I created a wearable device to directly relate our bodies with our perceptions of the external world. However, when writing this documentation, I do feel that my project lacks the interaction that is highly emphasized in the second video and the reading, because my project does not include the person’s active and initiative engagement with the external world and other people, and therefore the distortion of our perception modalities may only be limited to a small range. I think that although I did try to combine our bodily experiences with our perception and created a connection like synesthesia, I can go further by involving more interactive process in the future since that is a crucial element when experiencing art too.

III. Development & Technical implementation

Before starting to do hands-on fabrications, I first tried to come up with some ideas that fulfilled the requirements. After being inspired by the “paper cup telephone” which I used to play with when I was a child, I decided to use two kinds of disposable cups and combine them together by creating a wearable wooden box. Above is my draft about this idea. During the drafting process I did not think of using the transparent cups in front of the eyes, but later I added them due to three reasons: the transparent cups were available at the cafeteria and broke my limited  previous perception that disposable cups were all paper-made; if I didn’t block the two openings I designed for seeing, the echo effect would be greatly reduced because the space was not enclosed any longer and it would be easy to exchange sound through the helmet; the two transparent cups could also fulfill the purpose of distorting one’s vision. Therefore, my final project includes two kinds of disposable cups attached to a wooden helmet.

Then it came to the fabrication process. In the beginning I thought of using cardboard to build the helmet, but after trying I gave up and turned to the 3mm wood boards. The cardboard was too hard to be cut into pieces of the exact same size, and if the pieces were not of the same size, then it would be difficult to glue them together and create a box without a lid. Meanwhile, the cardboard was softer than the plank and was not smooth and hard enough to generate echoes. As a result, I turned to wood and used laser cutting to create the wood boards. I first used the cardboard to formulate the size of each possible hole that needed to be cut, and then went to cuttle.xyz to generate the file for laser cutting. Below is a screenshot of this file.

After that, I went to the Fabrication Lab and cut the wood boards under the help of a professor. I glued them together and added the disposable cups.

As my inspiration came from the idea of paper cup telephones, I also used strings to connect the paper cup located in the mouth position with the other two paper cups located near the ears. My intention was to make the sound travel through the string and therefore generate a stronger vibration and create a bigger sound (although later I figured out that it actually didn’t work), so I used a needle to poke a hole at the bottom of the paper cups and connected the three cups by elastic strings.

Both the first and the second reading looked back upon the history of the newly-developed art form – light. They revealed the tendency of light to move from being studied independently to being considered in a larger artistic environment, showed the diversity of ways and media to interact with light, and demonstrated how the art of light had developed rapidly in the past few decades. I found that in both two readings, the author seemed to emphasize the significance of light being displayed, exhibited or shown in the entire space where light itself existed, so that it could achieve greater success in the visual effects of the audience. The two articles also elaborated on the relationship between light and other art forms, and introduced how light, as a newly developed kind of art, gradually broke away from other time-honored art forms and formed its own characteristics. Another commonality of these two articles is that both of them looked into the media in the light art. They listed various artists and their progress in finding new materials or technologies to interact with light, and showed the pattern of the evolution of such media in the development history of light.

What impressed me the most in these two readings was that, though unbeknownst to each other, the writers both seemed to put emphasis on the interaction between objects, including that of light and the audience, light and its media and even different kinds of light. They appeared to be underlining the importance of treating light (or art) in a bigger context, considering other factors (the audience, the atmosphere…) as crucial as, if not more important than light itself. This reminded me that when creating my own projects in the future, I should take the environment of my work into consideration instead of only paying attention to the work itself as if it is isolated from the surroundings where it is placed.

When it comes to how the phenomenology of light and space is prevalent throughout the exploration of light as a medium by the various artists, what was discussed in the third reading related my thoughts with the video that I once watched, which was about the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty. The feature of such phenomenology is that it prioritizes the experiences of individuals, and argues that the aesthetics of people comes from their own experiences of relevant conditions. The influence of Merleau-Ponty to the artists was also mentioned in this article, which in my opinion may be part of the reason why this phenomenology became universal in this art form. When facing an art piece like this, the audience are combining their capacity to experience with their own introspection, and therefore forming their own perception of the artwork. And as the artists prioritized the feelings and experiences of their audience – “The artist embodies in himself the attitude of the perceiver while he works”, they tended to utilize this phenomenology as an approach to create “minimal” art pieces and thus awakening the audience’s perception of the aesthetics of light.

One artist that interested me in the Light as Sculpture medium was Dan Flavin, an American minimalist artist who played a prominent role in creating installations from commercially available fluorescent fixtures. He made use of fluorescent lights, an unimpressive object which could be easily found in the market, and kept exploring the relationship and boundaries between color, light and sculptural space, organically combining the fixtures with a bigger environment filled with colorful beams of light. Instead of limiting the viewpoints of his artworks, he installed the fixtures in a certain way so that there would be various ways of viewing his composition. This kind of approach reminded me of the role of experimental exploration that light and space can play in the creation of media arts projects. By experimenting with unconventional lighting techniques, immersive environments, or interactive installations, artists can challenge the audience’s senses and perspectives and therefore push the boundaries of perception and explore new forms of expression.

(Flavin, 1996)

The other artist in the Phenomenal whom I found impressing was Doug Wheeler, who was considered to be the pioneer of the “Light and Space” movement that took place in Southern California in the 1960s and 1970s. His work includes drawing, painting, and installations that feature the perception and experience of space, volume, and light. His primary goal, according to his critic John Coplans, was to “reshape or change the spectator’s perception of the seen world”. Wheeler’s medium was thus the perception of his audience rather than light, new materials or technology. As introduced in the article Phenomenal, “Doug Wheeler’s mature work also enacts a disappearance of the art object, which in his practice leads to an immersive environmental experience”. The transition in Wheeler’s work was from abandoning canvas to working directly with plastic and light, and the feature of the latter includes the hard edges of the fabricated pieces and the softly diffused light which can be found in the curved edges of the encasements. Wheeler said himself that he would like the spectators to move their steps and try to shift their perception of his work, which in my opinion indicates that his work requires a form of interaction between the audience and the art piece. Thus, I consider another role which light and space can play to be interactive experience, where the audience can be engaged and they can respond to environmental factors, creating immersive experiences that blur the boundaries between the virtual and physical worlds.

(Wheeler, 2011)

Light plays an important role in our daily life, and when it is creatively combined with the domain of art, it can generate unimaginable vitality which still has its unknowns waiting to be explored. By researching the history of light and space, I now have a better understanding of the history of this newly-developed art form, and I hope that in the future I can make full use of what I have learned to create my own projects.