Sunday, March 11, 2012

experiment_100: multi-color grow light


Figure 01. Red color light collection through fiberoptics.

Figure 02. Blue color light collection through fiberoptics.

Figure 03. Light being transmitted at the MassArt "eye-bowl" container filled with water.

Figure 04: LED panel light source used in an experiment on plant growth by NASA. Pictured plant is a potato plant. Photo source: Wikipedia

Experiment_100:
For this experiment we wanted to test whether the colorful grow light (instead of the simple Sodium-Vapor Lamps-HPS lamps) can be transmitted to the bowl via fiberoptics. According to wikipedia regarding Grow Light: Red spectrum light may trigger a greater flowering response in plants. If high pressure sodium lights are used for the vegetative phase, plants grow slightly more quickly, but will have longer internodes, and may be longer overall" and "Blue spectrum light may trigger a greater vegetative response in plants". Also, "Different stages of plant growth require different spectra. The initial vegetative stage requires blue spectrum of light, whereas the later "flowering" stage is usually done with red–orange spectra." In the experiment we worked with scallions' rhizhoma that can grow with the method of hydroponics.
Items used in this experiment: fiberoptics, multi-color grow light, rhizhoma, water, MassArt "eye-bowl" container.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

PHOTODOTES DOCUMENTATION

PHOTODOTES DOCUMENTATION

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 Tschoepe

A. 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

PHOTODOTES DOCUMENTATION

PHOTODOTES DOCUMENTATION

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 Tschoepe

A. 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

Saturday, February 4, 2012

PHOTODOTES


Figure 01. Natural light collected at the roof. Photo credits: Dominic Tschoepe

Figure 02. Artificial light source to be used when there is no sun.

Figure 03. Transferring light through fiberoptics. Photo credits: Dominic Tschoepe

Figure 04. Transferring light through fiberoptics to be diffused in space. Photo credits: Dominic Tschoepe

Figure 05. Transferring light through fiberoptics to be diffused in space. Photo credits: Dominic Tschoepe

Figure 06. Detail from the light diffusion structure. Photo credits: Dominic Tschoepe

Figure 07. Detail from the light diffusion structure. Photo credits: Dominic Tschoepe

Figure 07. Light arrival. Photo credits: Dominic Tschoepe

Figure 08. Natural light arriving in darkness after traveling 100 feet from the roof.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

PHOTODOTES: collect-transfer-diffuse

an environmental art experiment




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
Special thanks to: Maria Toloudi, Yannis Stratakis, Theodoros Koukos, Marrikka Trotter, Jonathan Santos, Evelyn Rytz

Thursday, January 19, 2012

PHOTODOTES

PHOTODOTES is a spatial installation that explores the manipulation of light in space, architectured to perform in 3 stages: collecting, transferring, and diffusing. PHOTODOTES consist of spatial elements of mixed materials (plastics, fiberoptics, and metals) that display light emission while being light-wired to two sources: daylight from outdoors and artificial light from indoor.

The “machinic” configuration is demonstrated in 3 parts:
o Collect: A light-surveillor observes the light patterns and gathers the sunlight to be transferred in the dark space. For this experimentation and due to limited amount of available sunlight, there are “2 suns”: the natural, and an artificial one.
o Transfer: Endglow fiberoptics cables were selected to transfer the light from the 2 suns to the spatial elements in order to spatialize the need for light to its literal extend.
o Diffuse: The solid objects or surfaces for light diffusion integrate the once disappeared (sun)light back to the dark space, by capturing it in their mass.

The different light patterns expected to occur throughout the 4 months of the exhibition are recorded and projected. The experimentation is a critique in phenomena related to lack of light, like the lack of vitamin D, depression, women’s cycle patterns irregularities, work separation from exterior conditions. It aims to explore light’s integral role in space by intervening through its two states: natural and artificial. Through this inseparable duality, PHOTODOTES proposes a holistic approach to light design, unlike the typical approach through windows/ screens/ transparencies by architects and the usual neon/ bulb approach by artists.

While PHOTODOTES do not necessarily solve the problems addressed, they aim to make people aware about affects of light on bodies and space. Having as a departure point, the art, the installation aims to reveal or emphasize the essential capacity of light in the built environment and well-being of people. In the GardenLab exhibition, PHOTODOTES is displayed for experimentation while aiming to augment our individual and collective perceptual mechanism.



*photodotes is the plural form of the greek: φωτοδότης = giver of light, luminary