ONGLOWING - AN INTERACTIVE LIGHT SCULPTURE

MFA Project

WHAT IS ONGLOWING?

As my final project for my MFA in Graphic Design at Vermont College of Fine Arts, I wanted to represent the unique communication and independent format of the program through an interactive light installation. VCFA students and faculty are located all over the world and there is a very good chance that at any moment of the day, a VCFA student is working on their project.

I designed a light sculpture using IFTT and WeMo to remotely activate as VCFA students and faculty communicated with each other to visualize the never-ending relay of amazing designers creating one of a kind work.

HOW ONGLOWING WORKS

IFTTT is a service that enabled me to create ‘recipes’ that fit a simple structure, if this then that. The ‘this’ part of a recipe is a trigger. My main trigger was ‘If I receive an email with VCFA in the subject line.’ The ‘that’ part of a recipe is the action. In this case the action is ‘turn the WeMo switch on then off’. A WeMo switch is a Belkin product with the ability to be controlled from anywhere in the world via the internet.

As students and faculty in both the Graphic Design program and other VCFA programs from across the country and world communicated with each other using specific social media channels, they were able to activate the light sculpture. Once the signal to turn the device on was triggered, it then ran through a 4 channel chaser controller which animated the lights on the hung display.

The light sculpture was installed on VCFA’s campus during the Graphic Design residency in October of 2013 for students and faculty to observe and interact with. Those not on campus were able to view and interact with the light sculpture via a live camera feed, so a student in another VCFA program was able watch the light illuminate from their social media participation while working on their laptop at home.