The following text was written and edited by Zenovia Toloudi.
Since January 18th, one can visit and experience the project PHOTODOTES, an installation that brings naturally light in dark spaces, currently on show until the beginning of May at Brant Gallery at MassArt. PHOTODOTES is architectured and presented in three stages (collect-transfer-diffuse).
PHOTODOTES detail. Photo credits: Dominic TschoepeA. COLLECT
The installation has two sources, the natural sun-light, collected in the roof of South Hall building in MassArt); and the artificial LED box, to be used only when there is no sun (night times and cloudy-stormy days). The research regarding the collection of the ever-changing natural sun-light is on-going and consists of multiple experiments to be tested on-site throughout the residency at MassArt.
COLLECT: Natural light collected at the roof. Photo credits: Dominic Tschoepe
COLLECT: Artificial light source to be used when there is no sun.
B. TRANSFER
The light (either natural or artificial) it is transferred via fiberoptics to the origami structure, found in the dark (or not enough lighted) space.
TRANSFER: Transferring artificial light through a transparent fiberoptic cable. Photo credits: Dominic Tschoepe
TRANSFER: The (transparent) fiberoptic acts as a light vain, that gives light to the origami structure. Photo credits: Dominic Tschoepe
TRANSFER: Transferring natural light through a black thick fiberoptic cable (traveling distance: 100 feet). Photo credits: Dominic Tschoepe
C. DIFFUSE
The origami structure is as an alternative to the black-box solution (often used to expose light). It is designed as a free-standing element of space, that can be reconfigured to different forms (wall, cave, surface, etc) based on needs, and desires. The flexible system configuration is consisted of folded triangles that provide a dark area (the alternative to black-box) for the light to be seen and diffused. The critical detail is conceived by George Toloudis (gtroza). The origami structure was constructed at Panagiotis Stamboulidis shop at Alexandroupolis, Greece. Mr. Takis, head of the shop, had generously offered the materials for its construction and shop resources (equipment and personnel) for 5 days and nights.
DIFFUSE: Detail from the light diffusion structure. Photo credits: Dominic Tschoepe
DIFFUSE: Natural light arriving to the origami diffusion structure. Photo credits: Dominic Tschoepe
DIFFUSE: The light captured in the origami structure niche. Photo credits: Dominic Tschoepe
DIFFUSE: Looking to the niche where the natural light arrives after traveling 100 feet from the roof.
The research has started with a series of 56 light machines on collecting, transferring and diffusing light. The experiments were part of ZITOFOS workshop that took part in Alexandroupolis, Greece the last summer. The documentation of the experiments, along with other material related to spatial light, can be found in ZITOFOS website. PHOTODOTES is the first permanent spatial experiment to deal with this issue. One can watch the "Made in Greece" process in the following video:
PHOTODOTES: the making of from Zenovia Toloudi on Vimeo.
The research is being accomplished in collaboration with MIT Art, Cutlure, +Technology and the director of the program Ute Meta Bauer. Please see below the details of project credits:
Project credits:
Design: Zenovia Toloudi
Research: Zenovia Toloudi, Ute Meta Bauer (MIT Art, Culture, and Technology), George Toloudis
Construction: Zenovia Toloudi, George Toloudis, Panagiotis Stamboulidis @ Stamboulidis Panagiotis Workshop in Alexandroupolis, Greece
Gallery Installation: Zenovia Toloudi, Dominic Tschoepe, Dimitris Papanikolaou
Photography: Dominic Tschoepe, Zenovia Toloudi, Dimitris Papanikolaou
Movie: Zenovia Toloudi
Special thanks to: Maria Toloudi, Yannis Stratakis, Theodoros Koukos, Marrikka Trotter, Jonathan Santos, Evelyn Rytz
