we turn our heads towards the light (or wander aimlessly in the dark)
Digital installation
This was a custom installation for Olson Kundig Architects on their Shadow Wall. This wall is positioned below a giant skylight, which constantly casts varying light and shadow on the walls surface. By using a series of light sensors positioned around the stylus, the machine can determine where locally around it the wall is brightest. At each drawing interval it locates the two brightest areas around it and then moves in a direction weighted between these two areas. The length of line it draws is based on the brightness differential of where it currently is compared to the average of the area around it. In areas that are overall bright the machine draws short line segments, while in darker or more varied areas it ends up drawing longer line segments in an attempt to end up in consistently bright areas.
The machine, in a sense, bask in the light of the wall, content and lethargic, while becoming anxious and restless when faced with being in shadows. In this way the machine not only is interacting with the physical environment of the space -- the cycle of light -- but is mimicking aspects of the creative process that take place around it as well; we feel the bliss and ease of finding creative solutions, yet these moments are sometimes followed a time where clarity seems to allude us persistently.
All posted photos are credited to Joe Iano. You can visit more of his work at www.ianophotography.com. I encourage you to visit it.