Light

Curator: Erich Schöls (DE)

Light in its essence is not perceivable. Only in combination with shadow can humans experience it. It is therefore often used as a symbol for the immaterial. While the sciences explain light as a physical phenomenon, it is used metaphorically for very different contents in the humanities. Both concepts provide interesting impulses for entirely diverse approaches to projects. In this course, we looked into the subject “light” in form and content in a very versatile, innovative and experimental way.

Overview of projects

Wonderful World

Dominik Schön (DE)

With Wonderful World, a piece of nature is created through interaction. Little by little the surface of the tabletop is changed by the hands of the other players, transforming the darkness of the area into a natural landscape.

Tangible Universe

Annika Kreikenbohm (DE)

In the study of the universe, light is the one of the main sources of information accessible to us. Using satellites and telescopes, we collect the light of astronomical objects. First, each object appears as a single cloud of light. In the closer analysis of light, we recognize its nature and can distinguish stars from galaxies. In the virtual environment, numerical satellite data is translated into light sculptures and light is made tangible by haptic stimuli.

Silent songs

Katja Volk (DE)

Light is a matter of course for us. Its functionality in everyday life and technology makes it easy for us to overlook its simple beauty. Light is fascinating. Not only physically, but also visually. Silent songs uses light as a medium. Small, interactive light boxes create a sensual moment in which the viewer can concentrate on the light. This draws pictures in its very own way.

Shadow of Original Sin

Xu Dongyan (CN), Guo Biyu (CN), Zhong Manting (CN), Zhengren Chen (CN)

Shadow of Original Sin is an interactive installation that explores human original sin. Where there’s light, there must be shadows. From the shadows, we can always see the dark side of human nature. The inside of the device will reflect the original sin inside of you as a human being. In the installation, the shadow of the audience will turn into a monster. The monster is completely controlled by the audience, and what the monster will react to depends on the audience. The subconscious evil of human nature is entirely exposed.

RGB microscope

Hina Ishikawa (JP)

This drawing system uses the characteristics of the three primary colors of light. I focused on the differences between the action of drawing and the things which were drawn. Using the small display gives the viewer an experience like “looking through the micro world.”

[re]BO[u]NDS ~ expanded media

LOXOSconcept – Giulio Colangelo (IT), Valerio De Bonis (IT)

[re]BO[u]NDS is an electroacoustic composition/performance for three electromechanical performers (drippers), reactive and synchronized lights, real time audio processing + electronic sounds.

Rays

Anne-Sophie Schmidt (DE)

Rays is a VR environment designed to get viewers excited about the physics of electromagnetic waves. With a self-designed ring as controller, the user can hunt for the information himself. Other interactions, such as changing the frequency of the wave, demonstrate the properties of the different wave types and are illustrated by dimensions that represent the wide bandwidth of the wave dimension. Immerse yourself and explore the invisible radiation surrounding you.

Radio Cloud

Cao Thanh Lan (VN/AT), Gregor Siedl (AT)

Radio Cloud is an interactive light-sound-installation by Cao Thanh Lan and Gregor Siedl, which is based on a real-time and site-specific feedback circuit. „Radio cloud“ has an unbiased unfiltered „input“ from real-time FM frequencies on site, only limited by the range of the antenna and the characteristics of the exhibition space. Its input-media is also its output – light and sound. They are mutually dependent, they define, interact and influence each other. The reciprocality of the two energy forms drive things forwards.

Perception

Cheska Lotherington (UK)

Perception is an experimental light piece that interacts with audience members. A thin rim around the edge of the room on the floor will project the light strips’ color up onto the walls. Three cameras mounted to the ceiling will feed data to the light strips.

OS

ROOMTONE (KR)

OS (Operating System) is a VR-based creation containing images of near-future autonomous driving environments. The light and data generated as an audience move through virtual space can bring together the boundaries of the actual and the virtual.

Modeling Color Spectra

Benedict Falkenstein (DE)

Each picture consists of many individual colors. Based on the RGB color space, I created a virtual reality application that shows a three-dimensional shape of the color spectrum of the image. This object can be moved and deformed by users, who can then see the changes they made to the picture. This direct link between the image and the three-dimensional color space gives the user a completely new perspective on colors and their location in the RGB color system.

Luminescence

Benita Martis (DE)

In virtual reality (VR), light does not have to correspond with our reality. Physical laws can be overridden and redefined. This raises the question of how light looks, what effect it achieves and how it can be perceived in virtual reality. Can light in VR achieve a meditative effect? Can light take shape? Does light have the same meaning in virtual reality as in real reality? Luminescence is an experimental virtual experience which plays with forms, contrasts and biological feedback.

Lucky Island

Michaela Lautenschlager (DE)

Outside our visible spectrum of light, there is a very big area of electromagnetic radiation. Scientifically, that is also light, as it consists of photons. The most dangerous part for the human being: gamma rays. They are characterized by a very small wavelength and permeate almost all materials on earth. We cannot see them and generally only notice them when they are linked to radioactivity; for example, when we deal with the consequences of atomic bombs and nuclear accidents in power plants. In this project I don’t want to downplay the dramatic effects of being exposed to this radiation but I want to help people understand it better. Therefore, I used the principle of sonification to make live measurements of monitoring stations in Japan “audible.”

Lucifer

Kari Massey (DE)

Lucifer is a small robot, which reacts to light and gives light. If Light were a living thing, how would we encounter it? How would we communicate with each other? With 3 joints, 3 degrees of freedom, Lucifer is able to react with a wide range of motion. He addresses us with his movements. How do we react to this feedback? He brings light and he seeks light. Do we accept his offer? Or will we try to take away the light he seeks? An experimental reflection on human behavior.

LIMINAL

Louis-Philippe Rondeau (CA)

LIMINAL is an interactive installation that seeks to reify the boundary between present and past through a play of projected light. It employs a photographic process called slit-scan to spread out time in space. Its visual aspect stretches out time while spatiality is expressed via its audio component. Appearing as a glowing portal of light, the installation mirrors the interactor, albeit with a temporal distortion.

LightWing II

Uwe Rieger (DE/NZ), Yinan Liu (NZ), arc/sec Lab (NZ)

The interactive installation LightWing II creates a mysterious sensation of tactile data. It allows the visitor to navigate through holographic spaces and to explore responsive narratives.

Light

University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt, Faculty of Design

Light in its essence is not perceivable. Only in combination with shadow can humans experience it. It is therefore often used as a symbol for the immaterial. While the sciences explain light as a physical phenomenon, it is used metaphorically for very different contents in the humanities. Both concepts provide interesting impulses for entirely diverse approaches to projects. In this course, we looked into the subject “light” in form and content in a very versatile, innovative and experimental way.

Lichtzeichen

Lars Schrodberger (DE)

Language is the key to human communication. Ever since the invention of letterpress and book printing, humans have been fascinated by type and language. However, the written language has lost its magic over the years. That’s why I want to bring back life to the magic and mysticism of type and language. In order to achieve this, I created a machine for translating and interpreting written words, texts or single letters into emotional and abstract light signals.

LeveL II

mischer’traxler studio (AT)

LeveL II – a further development of the LeveL – is the fragile balance of perfect system installation.

Infinite Light Column

AROTIN & SERGHEI (AT/RO/DE/FR)

This project is reflecting our digital age, constantly creating floods of information and a confusing mass of images and automated processes of artificial intelligence.

Hortus Luminis

Theresa Vogt (DE)

Photosynthesis is an elementary part of everyday life. Nevertheless, our esteem for plants and other phototrophic organisms is limited. This may be due to the fact that most of their biological procedures are not visible to the naked eye. But they can be experienced through a microscope. Hortus Luminis creates a new level of interpretation that deals with the hidden energy of plants and other organisms. The application uses the data from an analogue microscope to grow digital plants.

50 shades of forest

Afra Sonmez (TR)

A textile as an electronic instrument: the artist specifically for this performance created a flexible and modular interface of electronic textile consisting mainly of snap fasteners to make all parts freely movable.

Flora

Pim Boreel (NL)

Flora is a living audiovisual installation that explores the relationship between human beings, technology and nature. This installation is an airtight glass cube, totally cut off from the outside world. Within this cube, an ecosystem is growing based on condensation. Fractal-like spores are taking shape on the glass. When drops of condensation hit sensors inside the installation, light and sound impulses are set in motion. Set within a dark space, this creates an experience for the audience around the living entity that is Flora.

Emergence

Universal Everything (GB)

Emergence is an open-world environment and crowd performance. The virtual reality installation expresses the primal human desire to maintain individual identity while being part of a crowd. As the user navigates a crowd of thousands, shafts of light beckon them closer. As they touch the light, the environment responds in real time, continually challenging the user’s perception. In this installation, Universal Everything experiments with software-based improvisation and custom-coded crowd simulations.

CRYPTID

Michael Candy (AU)

A monumental robotic light sculpture, CRYPTID exists as a vibrant anomaly in contrast to contemporary automata, sharing a presence both radiant and reserved.

CROSSING #03

Akinori Goto (JP)

In this work, when the light from the slit is projected onto the sculpted object, the movement of walking people is revealed. By reorganizing the diverse people filmed by the artist onto a single time axis, something akin to a community moving toward a purpose takes shape. Within this is a movement that differs from physical movement.

Color Impression

Lukas Woerm (DE)

Light. Light is boundless and dematerialized – it is intangible and enables our primary perception, seeing. A contourless, monotone space filled with light forces our brain to cope for a short time without this visual input. Orientation and lack of dimension are the consequences. Light, color and space become one. A non-objective environment makes human perception the object of contemplation. How is our emotional being influenced by light and colors?

Bubbles and Clouds – Illuminated Interactive Inflatables

Kristian Gohlke (DE), Christian Wiegert (DE)

Interactive pressure-stabilized membrane structures (“Pneus”), suspended from the ceiling, discreetly illuminated from the inside. As visitors pass through the room, through touch and draughts, the objects respond. Attempts to elucidate the objects creates a dialogue of light, sound and movement. In the course of the casual interaction, the visitors become part of a performance. The boundaries between viewer and performer, space and content begin to drift – bubbles wafting in clouds.

Artificial Light

Max Seeger (DE)

How does a neural network learn to see and how can we shape the perception of artificial intelligence? In a very experimental and fundamental manner, this project tries to study perception and recreation of light phenomena by artificial intelligence.

Project Credits:

• This project makes use of data produced by the EXTraS project and safecast.org., funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement no 607452.
• De Luca et al., 2016, in Caraveo P., D’Avanzo P., Gehrels N., Tagliaferri G., eds, Proc. Sci., Vol. 233, Swift: 10 Years of Discovery. Springer International Publishing, Switzerland, p. 135

Biography:

Erich Schöls (DE) studied visual communication at the University of Applied Sciences Schwäbisch Gmünd. Early on, he focused on digital information design. After several years of founding and leading creative agencies and teaching activity at different universities of design, he was appointed Professor at the Faculty of Design of the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt, where he leads the course specialization “interactive media.” Since 2004, he directs the well-established Steinbeis research center Design and Systems that he founded. It aims at applied, interdisciplinary research and development in the field of digital media of information and communication. He gives lectures in Germany and abroad.