Daniel Rybakken’s idea for creating a window that produces “daylight” quality light was geared towards the Scandinavian population, where large parts of the year are subject to limited daylight.  As anyone who suffers from Seasonal Affective Disorder will tell you, not having daylight makes a room smaller, makes you feel depressed, and generally takes the wind out of your sails, so to speak.

The window of daylight is interfaced with a computer, so the device could act as an alarm clock as well as giving an idea of some depth beyond the four walls of the room you’re in.

Do you suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder?  Does daylight and light therapy help you?  I would like to know how it affects you - please post in the comments, and you’re more than welcome to post anonymously if you need.

Thanks, Yanko!

What you’re looking at above is an LED installation in Paris that interacts with human “signal” - mobile phone signals, people walking and cars driving, and interprets these datum into motion and light.  The article from LEDs Mag talk about the installation, “fLUX.”  From the article:

The installation was located on the banks of the Saint-Denis canal in the area of the Saint-Denis train station (a northern region of Paris), used by an average 60,000 commuters each day.

The installation consists of a network of 32 rotating and luminous panels of 3 meter-high and 60 centimetres wide, placed every 3 meters to form a kinetic wall. The panels rotate around their vertical axis, and have a black reflective surface on one side, the other being plain mat white. Their rotation is controlled by microprocessors, allowing to determine precisely the rotation speed and angle, while their networking allows to synchronise the movement of the 32 panels.

There were two companies that worked to design and give life to fLUX -A Belgian artist collective called LAb[au] and produced by a French art organization Synesthesie.  Have you seen this installation?  Got any pictures?  Post in the comments!

I love to write about art installations that involve music and light together.  I am a composer/musician/sound designer as much as I am a lighting designer (although being a lighting designer often doesn’t allow for playing much music sometimes), and two things in life that go together so wonderfully are music and light.

I give you Bill Vorn’s “Evil/Live:

Evil/Live is an installation comprised of a 16-bit matrix of halogen lamps (16 X 16, 256 lamps total) that each have a speaker behind the lamp, and a speaker behind the viewer.  Do you remember the algorithm from the 1960’s called The Game of Life? John Conway?  Evil/Live is modeled kind of after that.  Here’s a flash version of the original-esque.

Here’s a bit on Vorn’s piece, from his website on the project:

EVIL/LIVE 3 is an expanded version of a previous work created in 1997. EVIL/LIVE is an interactive sound and light installation based on a classical example of self-organization and Artificial Life. It is inspired by “The Game of Life”, a cellular automaton created by John Conway in the late 60’s.

EVIL/LIVE’s automaton is modeled as a 2D grid of cells (represented by light bulbs) where each cell has one of two possible states: alive or dead (on or off). The rules are based on proximity as each cell has eight neighbors: left, right, above, below, and on four corners. For each generation, a cell sets its state anew according to the following set of rules:
1- A dead cell becomes alive if it has exactly 3 live neighbors.
2- A live cell stays alive only if it has either 2 or 3 live neighbors.

EVIL/LIVE 3 aims to create a paradoxal context confronting the single-plane world of a cellular automaton to the 3-dimensional immersive environment surrounding the viewer. By using fast stroboscopic changes in light and quadraphonic sound effects, it creates an illusion of physical volume.

This is a beautiful project - if you’re at the Electrohype Festival in Malmo, Sweden you have to check this out.  Bill has quicktime video on his website, here - check that out as well, at the bottom of the page.

I originally saw these two installations at Design Boom, but looked a little deeper into the meaning and interaction of the two pieces - Rabbit Wonderland and Beneath, both in Shanghai and both massive LED sculptures meant to put a little color and vibrancy into the streets of Shanghai.

Beneath

Beneath is a piece inspired by the world of underwater existence - from the SuperNature website:

Beneath is an indoor interactive installation inspired by the underwater world. It consists of a series of 5 visual elements: ‘Water Ray’, ‘Turbulence’, ‘Dropping Star’, ‘Water Cloud’ and ‘Flying Jellyfish’. The installation embraces communication in a silent world through gestures of interaction and visual abstraction. This installation was exhibited at the Shanghai International Science & Art Exposition, China.

The five visual elements represented in images below:

Flying Jellyfish

Dropping Star:

Water Cloud:

Water Ray:

Turbulence:

Rabbit Wonderland

The second installation, Rabbit Wonderland, is more upbeat and warm, and is not so monochromatic.  From the website:

Rabbit Wonderland is a series of innovative outdoor LED interactive sculptures that aims to bring color, laughter and warmth to the streets of Shanghai during the Shanghai eArts Festival 2008. It Is a crossover project with W+K Shanghai. The iconic symbol of “Rabbit Wonderland” is the friendly and lucky Rabbit, which traditionally enjoyed favour among the Chinese for its representation of auspice and peace.

The images of Rabbit Wonderland are below - in contrast to all of the amber streetlight, it’s almost as if a playground of light appeared in the middle of Shanghai.  Beautiful!

Inhabitat has a great article about a new luminous wallpaper that has been released by designer Camilla Deidrich,  It’s fiber optic in nature.

From the article:

What if we could light our homes with glowing wallpaper rather than having to rely on electric lights? Swedish designer Camilla Diedrich has asked this exact question, and in response, created a stunning line of luminescent wallpaper that is lit by fiber optics. Her Nature Ray Charles Wallpaper features a delicate assortment of floral motifs that shine through in lucid lines, adding a touch of energy-efficient ambiance to any room.

Available in 8 different colors, Nature Ray Charles Wallpaper is part of Ms. Diedrich’s ‘Walls‘ product line. Speaking about her working process Ms. Diedrich says, “I have been searching for light without light…I was drawing as usual and slipped on the keyboard the drawing went extremely light and I just stared and thought wow this must be how blind people see and I thought of Ray Charles, the musician. His name is Ray, doesn’t that mean light?”

Thanks, Inhabitat.  You folks have such great research!

Make Mag has an article about the installation going on until November 17, 2008 by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer.  The installation is called “Pulse Park,” and it is the simultaneous recording and interpreting of 200 heartbeats by light.  There are articles all over about this - NY Mag wrote one that describes the process and all goings on of the exhibit, and quotes Rafael:  “It’s meant to bring everyone together, to allow people to express some sort of agency in a public space. It’s by no means medical.”

That’s awesome.  So is this:

Rafael has also done exhibits called “Pulse Room” (in Mexico) and “Pulse Front” (in Toronto).  If you check out his portfolio site, there are videos listed of all of the exhibits.  Rafael, JimOnLight wants to say that your work is much appreciated.  The video of “Pulse Room” is very, very beautiful.  This link takes you to a QT movie of it.

Inhabitat posted an article about the huge award that the Watercube (The Chinese Aquatic Center) won from the Australian Institute of Architecture.  The award, called the Jorn Utzon Award for International Architecture, is a prestigious honor - but anyone who saw the Watercube on broadcast of the 2008 Summer Olympics knows how beautiful the Watercube really was, and how amazing a collaboration between form and function it brought to our minds.

The Watercube was a joint collaboration between PTW Architects, Chinese firms CSCEC and CCDI, and the international firm, Arup.

From Inhabitat’s article - I love this quote:

The jurors who selected the Watercube said, “The Watercube uses state-of-the-art materials to create a visually striking building that is also energy-efficient and ecologically friendly. The most impressive aspect of the project is the outer shell or molecular skin that envelops the building. The building has a chameleon-like quality that captures light in an extraordinary and memorable way. In every respect, the Watercube is an engaging and ethereal building that comfortably straddles the traditions of both Chinese and Western architecture.”

My good friend Tina Winslow of the DFW Modern Homes blog sent me this link - which was completely in French - about a designer named Ben Rousseau.  The first image - the table with the glowing poly underneath - was striking to me, and after I looked up his name I discovered a whole bunch of interior LED work.  Check out Ben’s portfolio site, there’s some beautiful work there.

Tina’s blog rocks, by the way.  Interior Design and craftsman accessories get a lot of great attention there.

In case you’re dying to know what the french site says about Ben Rousseau…

Very beautiful style by the architect and originator 3D Ben Rousseau, specialist in pieces of furniture overmeasure and products in interior. Years of experiment in production and a selection of original furniture to discover in the continuation.

Here’s the french page, translated.

Unfortunately I did not see this before Breast Cancer Awareness Month was over, but as a friend of mine died of breast cancer a few months ago (we still think about you, Corey!) every month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Stephanie Choplin has invented a luminous breast prosthesis called the Lumitact.  Lumitact is a tactile prosthesis (the adhesive kind, not unlike any of the adhesive prostheses available) that incorporates Phillips’ LumiLive material into the prosthesis.  It’s an interesting design - I wonder about the practicality in regards to every day wear.

From the designer:

“Lumitact” is a virtual and a tactile breath prosthesis. Made of luminous textile, observer can play with animated virtual entities. Animation give the feeling that the prosthesis is not sluggish any more. Luminescent shapes are continually moving lovingly. This movement is an invitation to touch and play sensually.  The prosthesis extend from the breath to the haunch of the woman to guide the partner’s hand toward the whole body. An tender amorous game starts when the prosthesis is touched. The shapes slide softly toward the zone touched, like the shiver of a caress on the skin. The prosthesis is immobilized by an adherent system.