Exhibited at
CURRENTS Festival 2023
LIGHT SCULPTURE
#TOUCHDESIGNER #LED #LIGHT #PCOM #KINETIC #TEENSY
10
10
A motorized light installation exploring and magnifying the natural beauty of organic light and shadow through the lens of senseless digital signals.
The name 10 represents the 10 motors, the 10 panels, and the 10 LED strips. It’s the mixture of all the tangible and organic parts in this project.
These elements are driven by the fundamental binary digital signal, 1s and 0s.
Those 1s and 0s deserve more meaningful ways to influence and even become a part of our surroundings.
When 1 and 0 become 10.
The installation consists of 10 white matt finish acrylic panels driven by 10 servo motors. Each panel has a line of individually addressable LED strip attached to the back.
Housing
The installation is 31 inches wide, 27 inches tall, and 4 inches in depth. The main frame is made of wood and painted black to reduce light reflection. Two side panels are CNCed to achieve perfect alignments. The outer shell is made of transparent acrylic. I decided to expose the inner structure, after spending hours on wiring, as I consider displaying cables works as a metaphorical way of showing the transition of digital signals.
Panels
Each panel is made of a quarter-inch thick acrylic sheet glued to a quarter-inch squared acrylic rod. I designed and 3D printed connectors to hold the rods and connect them to bearings and servos. I also added Heat-Set Screw-Inserts on the servo mount to ensure a more secure connection when screwed into the servo discs.
Cable wiring
I made a considerable effort to make connections sturdy and reliable. Cables are crimped before screwing down to the terminal buses to ensure secure and perfect contact with each join. Wires are connected with lever nuts and Wago nuts to have the flexibility of easy removal during repairs. A high current power supply provides 12V electricity to LED and a 7.4V step-down convertor before going into servos.
Network wiring
The backbone of this installation is a TouchDesigner patch sending data to two Teensys, respectively, controlling ten high-torque servos and 820 12V-LEDs. The servos’ Teensy communicates in serial, while the one for LEDs receives data via DMX/ArtNet with an OctoWS2811 board which provides a more reliable way to connect LED strips through Ethernet cable.