Array and Spiral of Resonating Lamps - One Stroke, Metropolis Tokyo

teamLab, 2021, Interactive Installation, Murano Glass, LED, Endless, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi

Array and Spiral of Resonating Lamps - One Stroke, Metropolis Tokyo

teamLab, 2021, Interactive Installation, Murano Glass, LED, Endless, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi

When a person passes beneath the lowest lamp at the bottom of a dense array of lamps, it shines brightly and emits a color that resonates out. Also, when people enter and leave each sauna room, the lamps near the sauna entrance shine brightly in the color of that room and a sound tone resonates out. The light of this lamp becomes the starting point, and it spreads to the two nearest lamps. The light from the two nearest lamps transmits the same color to other lamps, one after another, spreading out continuously. The light transmitted splits into two lines of light that shine brightly once in every lamp, passing through each one, before finally meeting at the first lamp that became the starting point. People become aware of the presence of others in the same space.

All the lamps, seemingly scattered randomly, have a single connecting line (unicursal) that can be drawn. When drawing a line, the stroke (with the same starting and ending points) is drawn from a lamp to the lamp that is the closest in three-dimensional distance. By arranging the lamps in this way, the light generated in response to a person’s presence will always pass through all of the lamps in the space exactly once, in a single stroke, even though it is only propagating to the nearest lamp.

The arrangement of the lamps is mathematically determined to satisfy a number of restrictions outlined below. A large number of solutions were evaluated that take into account the variation and distribution in the height, the direction of the lamps, and the smoothness of the three-dimensional path (light trajectory).

The hanging lamps are arranged uniformly, in such a way that they form an orderly grid. This is the first constraint. The second constraint is that the dense array of lamps must be arranged in an ellipsoid. And the third constraint is that when a line is drawn from a lamp to the closest lamp in three dimensions, to the next, and so on, the starting point and the ending point must be connected as a single line (unicursal).

Since the arrangement of the lamps born from such a process seems to be random at first sight, the trajectory of the resonating light cannot be predicted: the light continues to the lamp that is physically closest, thus giving a natural feeling - like a fire burning.

The arrangement of the lamps is not only beautiful in a static way, but also in a dynamic way when activated by people in the space. It demonstrates the space of a new era that can be designed freely and change itself through digital technology, a space that adapts and changes due to the movement of the people in it.

* The lamps are made of Murano glass (Venetian glass).

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Array and Spiral of Resonating Lamps - One Stroke, Metropolis Tokyo

Array and Spiral of Resonating Lamps - One Stroke, Metropolis Tokyo

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