Within an Ocean of Light: Creating Volumetric Lightscapes
Author(s):
Exhibition:
Category:
Abstract/Summary/Introduction:
This paper documents explorations into an alternative platform for immersive and affective expression within spatial mixed reality installation experiences. It discusses and analyzes experiments that use an advanced LED cube to create immersive, interactive installations and environments where visitors and visuals share a common physical space. As a visual medium, the LED cube has very specific properties and affordances, and optimizing the potential for such systems to create meaningful experiences presents many interlinked challenges. Two artworks exploring these possibilities are discussed. Both have been exhibited internationally in a variety of settings. Together with this paper, the works shed some light on the design considerations and experiential possibilities afforded by LED cubes and arrays. They also suggest that LED grids have potential as an emerging medium for immersive volumetric visualizations that occupy physical space.
References:
1. A. Lütgens, “Twentieth-Century Light and Space Art,” Olafur Eliasson: Your Lighthouse: Works with Light 1991–2004 (Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2004).
2. N. De Oliveira et al., Installation Art (London: Thames and Hudson, 1994) 14.
3. R. Morris, “Notes on Sculpture,” Artforum (February and October 1966), reprinted in G. Battcock, ed., Minimal Art: A Critical Anthology (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1968) 222–235.
4. J. Butterfield, The Art of Light and Space (New York: Abbeville, 1993) 8.
5. P. Milgram & F. Kishino, “A Taxonomy of Mixed Reality Visual Displays,” IEICE Transactions on Information Systems, Vol. E77-D, No. 12 (1994).
6. C. Paul, Digital Art (London: Thames and Hudson, 2003) 71–72.
7. S. Snibbe & H. Raffle, “Social Immersive Media: Pursuing Best Practices for Multi-user Interactive Camera/Projector Exhibits,” Proceedings of ACM CHI 2009 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Boston: ACM, 2009) 1447–1456.
8. S. Lavin, Kissing Architecture (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011).
9. For example, see P. Dalsgaard & K. Halskov, “3D Projection on Physical Objects: Design Insights from Five Real Life Cases,” Proceedings of ACM CHI 2011 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (New York: ACM, 2011) 1041–1050.
10. Squidsoup, www.squidsoup.org/.
11. C. Frayling et al., Practice-based Doctorates in the Creative and Performing Arts and Design (Lichfield, UK: UK Council for Graduate Education, 1997).
12. B. Sevaldson, “Discussions & Movements in Design Research: A Systems Approach to Practice Research in Design,” FORMakademisk Vol. 3, No. 1, 8–35 (2010).
13. C. Salter, Entangled: Technology and the Transformation of Performance (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2010) xxxiii.
14. A. Rowe & A. Morrison, “Dynamic Visualisation in Three Physical Dimensions,” Digital Arts and Culture (2009).
15. S. Schubiger-Banz & M. Eberle, “The NOVA Display System,” Transdisciplinary Digital Art: Sound, Vision and the New Screen (Berlin: Springer, 2008) 476–487.
16. T. Cuevas, H. Obrist, & P. Santoscoy, Jesús Rafael Soto: Visione in movimento (Milan: Silvana Editoriale, 2007).
17. S. Feiner, et al., “Windows on the World: 2D Windows for 3D Augmented Reality,” UIST ’93 Proceedings of the 6th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (New York:
ACM, 1993).18. Squidsoup, Surface, www.squidsoup.org/surface/.
19. E.T. Hall, The Hidden Dimension (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1966).
20. C. Randall & A. Rowe, “Come Closer: Encouraging Collaborative Behaviour in a Multimedia
Environment,” Interactive Technology and Sociotechnical Systems; 12th International Conference, VSMM 2006, 281–289 (2006).21. Squidsoup, Scapes, www.squidsoup.org/scapes/.
