******* UPDATES *******
In 2022 we submitted the below Art installation to Another Love Story. We had a lot of fun doing it, met a lot of great people and learned a few things along the way. This year we are back with a new and improved version of the project. We have a better design, new code and more LEDs. The project is now 300cm wide and 200cm high and uses 840 LEDs. It uses a stand so the bottom row of LEDs aren't wasted, has a new paint job and an updated kinect camera. The below pitch is still largely the same and the best way to understand the project is to see it in action. Below is a video of the installation at ALS and how it was made.
******* ORIGINAL PITCH *******
The inspiration for this project comes from Plato's Republic. In it, he makes an allegory of reality where people are imprisoned in a cave and forced to look at a cave wall. Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners are various objects casting shadows onto the cave wall. Plato says that these shadows would become reality for the prisoners.
In Plato's allegory, the shadows are controlled by outside forces. Our project is an attempt to place the control of those shadows into the audiences hands and create their own reality. The installation will recreate that cave with an interactive LED wall that casts your shadow in an array of colour and motion.
This open source project uses 672 plastic ballpit balls. Each ball contains an addressable LED that is controlled by two Fadecandys to display a dithering coloured image on a large LED wall. A Xbox infrared camera is used to capture the motion and outline of object to project an LED shadow. You can see a video of our tech demo at the bottom of the page to get an idea of what this looks like.
The installation will be 240cm wide and 180cm high and display a different sets of LED patterns while there is no motion detected. The LED wall is broken up into modular boards of 56 LEDS for easy transportability and turns off during the day to conserve electricity. These sections are held in place by a wooden structure to ensure stability. Ideally the installation will be setup in a dimly lit and slightly sheltered area to make it more impactful.
The LEDs run at a voltage of 5v and use two weather proof LED power supplies to evenly distribute the current over the 672 LEDs.
The LEDs are IP68 sealed and the power can be connected via a 16 amp blue plug.
Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine. (Its in each other's shadows that people live.)
Old Irish proverb
Watch the videos below to see the tech demo:
