Lightfields

Lightfields is a robotic ecology of light, sound and ambient effects. The field thrives on information from its urban environment: it harvests invisible data streams and atmospheric phenomena into continuously shifting fields of vertical luminescence. It is a sonic‐spatial instrument pulsating in tandem with the electro‐physical energies of the city and its underlying systems.

Lightfield is defined by vertical streams of light and sound. Its thin luminescent fibers gently sway with the breeze and respond to the motion of visitors with quiet sonic undulations. The field is a mysterious and meditative space woven into the rich fabric of one of the city’s most dynamic parks – Union Square.

As one drifts deeper, the field slowly reveals larger patterns: the approaching rumble of the underground subway sends ripples of yellow light through the translucent stalks, while swarms of white LEDS pulse back and forth through the system in cadence with distant fiber‐optic transmissions. As the field registers real‐time local patterns, it simultaneously releases less decipherable data clouds into its glowing dynamic atmosphere. Each fiber acts as an individual agent yielding complex and unpredictable cumulative patterns within the grove’s organization.

Date: 2009
Location: New York, NY
Design: Jason Kelly Johnson & Nataly Gattegno