Every year, a group of students from Fontys University of Applied Sciences, foreign universities or other Dutch universities dedicate the entire minor to brainstorming, developing, and constructing an artwork that can participate in the GLOW festival. Based on the annual theme and, above all, the use of lights, the students have to come up with a suitable concept that is accepted by the Glow organization.
Project description
Our assignment was to design and create the prototype of a light installation that is:
- Interactive
- Esthetically pleasing
- Attractive for the audience
- Compliant to the Theme of Glow
- Robust for outdoor use
- Safe (in accordance with the requirements set by the municipality)
- Transportable (to other light festivals – in the future)
- Affordable (depending on funds and sponsorships)
Throughout the project most of these requirements changed based on feedback given by the GLOW organisation and experts surrounding the project. This was fun, but also required a lot of flexibility from the BeCreative student team.
Project results
After some brainstorming and researching, we quickly started building prototypes so that we could test our ideas in practice. To get a good idea of the look and feel of the final (scaled up) installation, some of the LEDs were mounted to the prototype selected for Glow (see picture above and video). A basic script was made to control the LEDs using an Arduino micro controller and create a small show with a couple of different colors and patterns. This prototype model cannot yet look around, but is hung stationary from three steel cables. The actuation of the pupil is already fully functional.
The final prototype model is a great representation of the art-work and it was used to present the projects during the Glow Academy meetings and at the Glow Preview in the PSV stadium. And guess what… our concept was accepted by the Glow organisation. Although scaling up of the prototype has already started, this project will continue after the summer holidays. Then the final installation will be engineered (September to November) for exhibition at Glow Eindhoven in November 2023.
Video
Acknowledgements
The BeCreative team would like to thank the Glow organisation, for their valuable technical and art-related support during the project.