Concept
Amidst 2020’s pandemic, social unrest, the fires in the West, the impending election, I think as artists we are responsible for making a public art piece that can provide a place for healing that can help people cope with what and who has been lost, and help set intentions for positive change. I see this in two forms, both a body of water and in the heart of a fire, where both can be destructive and restorative.
Interactivity
Ideally, there would be a QR code that could lead to a website that would prompt the participant to fill out a text box, with a prayer, an intention, a name that they want to honor. I imagine their text response being translated from their phones and into the LEDs of the piece, animating across its length. For water, I imagine the text flowing, and perhaps a rain animation could "wash" the text away. For fire, maybe it's a candle, or maybe it looks like a piece of paper that gets consumed by flames as it dances across the length of the LEDs.
Kinetic
To make it kinetic, I'd want to attach linear actuators to 6 different points of the 3' x 6' sheet of lenticular that would be activated to create this rippling effect.
Form
I envision a double-sided large scale “reflection vessel” roughly 9’ L x 2’ W x 7’ H’ constructed out of wood, aluminum extrusions, and a lenticular surface that stretches and shapes the LED lighting underneath.
I am still contemplating on what the central arcade will look like, whether it should be LED panels or an OLED display. I imagine participant text being sent from their phones and sent to the display, starting at the top of the screen and then downwards, transitioning from a vivid animation on the screen into an elongated, stretched, rippling reflection into the LED panels magnified by the lenticular lens, moving towards the viewer.
Crude drawing attempt in Vectorworks. Will need to watch more tutorials before getting more details in there.
Research
I spoke with ITP alum Barak Chamo and Nick Wallace for their advice and technical support with this project.
Linear Actuators
There are many linear actuators in the market! For this project, I am looking for a more affordable option that does not necessarily have to be load-bearing. I am imagining that the motors will be attached to the 80/20 extrusion bars that I intend to build the internal frame with. I have ordered the linear actuator pictured on the right and will run some preliminary tests with it.
Barak has offered his stash of linear actuators to play with, and I will hopefully run more tests with them too.
Joints
It will take a lot of time sifting through the McMaster catalog and Servocity website to find the right parts for the up/down translation for multiple different points of the lenticular sheet.
Lenticular Lens
For this project, it is very important to have enough flexibility in the lens for the up and down translation along the perimeter. Another key factor is scale - I’ve had difficulty finding lenticular larger than 14x20”. I spoke in depth with artist Robert Munn of Depthography who had plenty to say about lenticular lenses and their imaging applications. In confidence, he shared his lenticular vendor with me: Microlens.com.
I received a sample pack of what they had to offer, 60 LPI lenses being the thinnest with the least amount of plastic, which still turned out to be more rigid than the lenticular lens I’ve ordered off eBay.
TouchDesigner Interaction
I will need to devise a way in which TouchDesigner will retrieve text from the database that would be populated by participant entries. Once extracted, I would like the text to be animated in the LED output. I will also do further research on fluid dynamics to create the water, and flow emitter to create fire animations.
Bill of Materials
LED Driver
OLED display
PC
8020 Extrusions
Hardware TBD
Wooden enclosure