The GreenPIX Zero Energy Media Wall in Beijing is a giant glass curtain wall containing the largest color LED display worldwide as well as the first glass integrated photovoltaic system in China. The wall contains a large-scale display made up of 2,292 color (RGB) LEDs light points and is comparable to a 24,000 sq. ft low resolution monitor screen. The wall harvests energy during the day with glass solar panels and using that same energy after sunset to light the facade.
This wall is the first public digital art space in the heart of Beijing, and it was created with the hope to encourage a new generation of media artists to create site specific and socially relevant projects that could be displayed at this scale in the city. The low resolution of the wall’s LED pixels contrasts directly with the high resolution commercial scale screens and imagery that is seen constantly in big cities like Beijing and around the world.
According to Colangelo’s framework, a wall like this can allow for new media artists to engage with the urban fabric of the big city and its citizens as the audience. Ultimately the wall itself makes a statement about the crowding of modern cities with so many smaller high resolution, high energy commercial displays by countering them with a grand monolithic, low-res display that allows artists to play with transparency and saturation to abstract their works.
This installation is an interactive design piece that uses lighting and sound in combination with infrared sensors to create an interactive soundscape that is activated by the audience. The piece consists of 264 blown-glass bulbs that are suspended from the ceiling at different heights and have a ring of LEDs to give the illusion of light bulbs. The glass bulbs contain hand-fabricated “insects” that start flying around when people approach the bulbs. Additionally the bulbs light up and the movement of the insects within the bulbs creates a unique soundscape that changes based on which bulbs are active and how the insects are moving.
The installation stands out as a piece that uses lighting as a backdrop to create a more rich human experience. As the bulbs light up, viewers are drawn to the insects, which are in turn moving in response to the audience approaching them. This develops an interesting call and response pattern which allows people to engage with the piece in multiple ways. Additionally the changes in height make it more accessible for children as well as taller adults by holding some bulbs at their eye-levels. There is a passive experience gained by watching the installation light up and produce a soundscape as throngs of people travel through it, but also a more direct experience that comes from people approaching different insects that appeal to them and seeing that they are the ones bringing the installation to life.
This installation uses LED lighting and fiber optics along with hidden photosensors that take in outside light and create light trails that ripple throughout the LEDs in the installation. There are around 20,000 individual points of LED lights that are articulated and controlled by custom built software that takes input from the sensors and “pollinates” it across the installation by causing the LEDs to light up in bursts. The movement and intensity of these ripples and bursts is determined by the intensity of the light being shone onto the sensors.
This piece functions slightly differently as a passive piece than it does as an interactive one. If someone without a light approaches it they can still have casual interactions with the piece by watching the light pulsate and running their hands through the fiber optics. In addition they can cast shadows over the installation and manipulate it to some minimal effect by reducing the light some of the sensors receive. However, the active viewer is able to create multiple different reactions using their phone or some other light source by moving further or closer to the installation or by changing the brightness of their device in addition to these passive interactions. The installation mimics human interactions with nature, revealing certain interactions that we know well but hiding certain mechanisms, such as in the opaqueness of the programming and the hiding of the sensors. Just as the average person knows that moths are attracted to light and that a firefly can light up without necessarily knowing the science behind it, this installation creates a spectacle and invokes a sense of wonder by hiding just enough of how it works from the viewer.
