PURPOSE:

Window Vision is a reactive sculpture that serves to highlight the changes in the outside environment by gradually shifting between two components depending on varying levels of light and dark.  Exhibited at ITP’s Winter 2008 Show, it was considered by Make Magazine as part of their Top 5 in Show.

OBSERVATIONS:

To have called my apt in Manhattan small would have been an exaggeration.  From my tiny room, you could hardly tell that I was living in the midst of a bustling metropolis and to that respect, it made me appreciate the architectural form of the window to an even greater extent.  The one window in my room faced a mere brick wall and the light that came in was so meager that I could hardly tell whether it was two in the morning or two in the afternoon.  Therefore I wanted to create something that would be a reminder of the changing levels of day to night and using the window as the fulcrum through which to implement these ideas.

Window Vision is a commentary on our perception of the outside environment.  On the one hand, this piece emphasizes the architectural nature of the human need to have an interaction with the outside world and the other is neurological.  The piece reflects the way that our vision physically sees the world namely through the cellular structures which are composed of “cones and rods” that reside in our retina.  Cones generally allow us to see objects and color during the daytime, and rods take over during moments of darkness.  In order to express this dichotomy of vision in terms of light and dark, I created two interfaces: solid for day and transparent for night to reflect the way that our own eyes are constantly shifting to adjust for varying light levels.

PROCESS:

Using my sculpture piece to react to varying levels of light using a photocell was fairly easy but achieving the right mechanics ended up being the real challenge. The piece is mechanized through a series of pulleys and a stepper motor that would create enough torque to lift up the first structure similar to a window blind.