(WE ARE) LIGHT CATCHERS

MICHAEL ANG (based in Berlin)
(WE ARE) LIGHT CATCHERS, 2015

This winner project was created in January during the '2015 In/Visible Cities: Prototyping Lab' as part of transmediale 2015 in SUPERMARKT - initiated by Public Art Lab in collaboration with Fraunhofer FOKUS and funded by the RWE Foundation.

(We Are) Light Catchers collects personal light experiences into a collaborative public light sculpture. Participants wear a light sensor which records the colour and quality of the ambient light around them. Over a period of 24 hours the sensor builds up a "personal light story" specific to that person's environment and daily habits. Each light recording is shown as animated changes of colour over time in a public light sculpture. Each element of the sculpture is illuminated with one person's light history. As more people "bring the light" to the sculpture it becomes a place for people to meet and compare our shared experiences of light.

Workshops will allow the public to learn about the technology and privacy issues of crowd-sourced data collection while helping to build the wearable sensors. Light Catchers seeks to raise awareness of our individual light environments and gives the chance to "bring your light" to a collaborative public installation.

 

 

Artist biography

Michael Ang is a Berlin-based artist and engineer working at the intersection of art, engineering and human experience. His works use technology to enhance our understanding of natural phenomena, modulate social interaction, and bridge the divide between the virtual and physical. He creates light objects, interactive installations, and open source software tools that build towards a future of human technology focused on people and the environment.

Michael's work has been exhibited at NASA Ames Research Center for Yuri's Night, transmediale, Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, Art Hack Day, Natalie Jeremijenko‘s OOZ, the California Academy of Sciences, and has been featured in MAKE Magazine and the Creator‘s Project. He holds a Master‘s degree from New York University‘s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) and a BASc in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo (Canada).

 

 

Tech info

'(We are) Light Catchers' uses light sensors to catch the individual light and colour environment. The data will be projected by LED light modules on LED screens and create the collaborative light sculpture.