LO-7: Unnumbered Sparks, Janet Echelman, 2014

I was attracted to this work at the first sight. It is a monumental, beautiful sculpture work flowing in the sky, consisted of an intricate, color-changing net. The audience can interact with the piece by connecting to the project’s wifi and give instructions to the website promoted, such as changing colors, moving parts around, etc. I like how it gives the audience the chance to be the creators of this art work and fully participate in it by taking out the artist’s role as the maker. I also like the sense of vulnerability and mobility in this work. The piece is like a floating, colorful, and constantly changing nebula that has fragile, mysterious, mobile beauty.

The team collaborated with Janet Echelman, a sculpture artist who works with public space. What they used to build this sculpture is a kind of fiber that is fifteen times stronger than steel. And the sculpture was put up into the middle of an active city’s sky. The project team built the modal in Chrome with webGL. They then modified parameters to get the complex behaviors they were looking for. The mobile and interactive aspect of the piece was made possible by a language developed by the team. It sits in between Javascript and C language. People’s input would then directly influence what they see. The team commented on this, saying “they can draw and paint with light,…people are the Co-creators. Seeing the delight and wonder on people’s faces is the best reward for the team.”