Client: DTEK
Location: London, UK
Year: 2024
In April 2021, Ukrainian energy company, DTEK, invited Jason Bruges Studio to create a data-driven art installation for its new London office – a hub for Ukrainian investment and dialogue. The vision was a digital frieze celebrating DTEK’s mission to provide light and warmth to millions as well as its wider mission to drive Ukraine’s transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
Just as with the laws of thermodynamics that govern the transfer of energy from one place to another, or from one form to another, so Energy Dynamics shows the transfer of energy from source to city, and from a ray of light, gust of wind or lump of coal to the power that drives a nation. It also acts as a memorial for hundreds of staff who have lost their lives since the start of the full-scale invasion.
How it works
Energy Dynamics consists of 593 luminous arcs mounted on a 12-meter-wide canvas, hung above DTEK’s offices in the Leadenhall Building, London. Each arc represents a Ukrainian city, power station, renewable installation or weather pattern that is then brought to life through live data links that send energy pulsing across the board – a stylised map of Ukraine – as undulating waves of light. The effect is a real-time ‘power map’ that also mimics the behaviour of atoms – the simplest form of energy.
The heat of war
Tragically, war has given this artwork new meaning and poignancy. From a piece originally commissioned to show Ukraine’s decarbonisation, the full-scale invasion in February 2022 turned Energy Dynamics into a symbol of endurance and a visual statement of DTEK’s mission to quite literally keep the lights on. Power stations in occupied territory appear static today, but they remain ready… waiting for Ukraine’s victory to light up once again.
Photography by James Medcraft
Film by Matt Watt - Hotmilk Films
Client: Boston Children's Hospital
Location: Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Year: 2023
Nature has long been a source of inspiration for interior spaces. From Renaissance trompe l’oeil skies to intricate Mackintosh decor, incorporating elements of the natural world has brought vibrancy into everyday life. Building on this tradition, a new art installation located within the Hale Family Building in Boston Children’s Hospital, Digital Inflorescence, seeks to provide aesthetic pleasure and healing qualities derived from nature by applying the principles of biomimicry in contemporary design.
Digital Inflorescence is a captivating art installation that uses light, movement, and colour to evoke a blossoming arboretum. Taking cues from the intricate patterns found in William Morris wallpapers, the artwork uses a network of white lights and dichroic glass prisms to create mesmerizing botanical geometries. Upon entering the lobby, visitors are greeted by an interactive experience as generative patterns respond to their presence, branching up the walls and unfurling into blooming petals, creating a kaleidoscope of light.
Kinetic flowers in vibrant shades of magenta, cyan, emerald, and orange invite viewers into an ephemeral encounter with nature.
The immersive ambience created by Digital Inflorescence aims to enhance well-being and promote healing, harnessing the proven therapeutic benefits of immersion in nature. The site specific, permanent work is part of an extensive collection of artworks on display throughout Boston Children’s Hospital’s several campuses.
Film and photography by James Medcraft
Client: Colorado State University
Location: CSU Spur Campus, Denver, Colorado, USA
Year: 2023
Rotation Index is an immersive expression of light that changes its appearance with the weather. Located at Colorado State University’s Spur Campus at the National Western Center in Denver, the artwork responds to pioneering research into the future of plant health and horticulture.
Spanning the length of a pedestrian bridge linking the Hydro building (focused on water) and Terra building (focused on food and agriculture), the artwork is a welcoming gateway that represents a living ecosystem. Combining data sets from the University’s growth chambers, greenhouses and green roofs with live, local weather information, it displays a palette of generative animations representing a system of growth, decay and renewal.
Taking inspiration from Colorado’s famous circular crop fields, and the principal of an angular mechanism filling and emptying, the artwork is formed of 348 LED rings. Like a plant, it manifests different growth patterns dependent on changing environmental stimuli. In stable weather the artwork is subtle and meditative. As temperatures swing it becomes more erratic, shifting between amber hues to cool shades of blue.
Creating a link with the University’s innovative research, Rotation Index celebrates the relationship between people and nature while providing a luminous notice board for the exciting activity happening on campus.
Film and photography by James Medcraft
Client: EcoWorld London
Location: Kew Bridge Gate, London, UK
Year: 2023
Across the animal kingdom, many living creatures navigate vast distances to reproduce, feed and find shelter. Insects, birds, reptiles, fish and mammals, use varied and fascinating techniques to trace and track their environment.
Inspired by nature’s compass, Floral Guide is an interactive, media artwork situated within the newly opened underpass connecting Kew Bridge Station and Brentford Stadium. Enlivening the pedestrian journey, the artwork uses a network of bespoke luminaires to resemble an ever-blooming glade.
A response to the nearby botanical research and education institution, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Floral Guide is an exploration of nature’s colour-based, wayfinding systems. From conversations with Kew scientists, Jason Bruges Studio developed a programmable media palette inspired by interactions between insects and plants.
From hibiscus to verbena, many flowers renew and refresh their appearance to communicate with pollinators. These ‘advertising slogans’, often outside our visible spectrum, are imagined as radial petals of light. Like bees to flowers, passersby influence the display and become immersed in ever-evolving pattern and colour.
Floral Guide builds on a family of the Studio’s artworks that use technology to represent natural phenomena. Mimosa (2010) uses kinetic OLEDs to represent the opening and closing leaves of the Mimosa Pudica, Dichroic Blossom (2014) is based on Prunus Mume, Perlin Canopy (2018) and Digital Phyllotaxy (2020) explore the way light filters through leaves.
Film and photography by Sandra Ciampone
Client: Strategic Property Partners
Location: Water Street, Tampa, USA
Year: 2022
Halocline Sky is a site-specific, urban intervention located in Tampa, Florida. Commissioned to create a welcoming gateway into the Water Street district, the artwork transforms a 200-foot skybridge into a multisensory, immersive environment.
Taking the local port as inspiration, the artwork celebrates the notion that diversity, interaction and exchange are at the heart of flourishing ecologies and cultures. Formed of molecule-like rings, animated with light, it brings life and dynamism to the cityscape.
A response to the unique, local environment, the artwork is choreographed to explore an interaction between liquids of different densities. Supporting a brackish marine ecosystem, the water in Tampa Bay contains more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. These specific conditions support more than 200 species of fish and the most diverse colonial waterbird nesting colonies in North America.
To celebrate this thriving ecology, and represent the meeting of river and ocean, the artwork displays fluid dynamic simulations as annular interactions of light. Influenced by the motion of passing cars and pedestrians, turbulent vortices appear and resolve in a lively, ever-evolving performance.
Halocline – ‘vertical zone in the oceanic water column in which salinity changes rapidly with depth’ (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Film and photography by Lance Gerber
Client: DeepMind
Location: London, UK
Year: 2022
Can we code creativity?
Exploring the creative limits of artificial intelligence, Lux Automata is a living, breathing media sculpture consisting of 2940 cellular, LED cubes. Suspended above its observers, the artwork uses a coded set of rules to exhibit a complex set of behaviours. Dynamic patterns of light emerge, repeat, mutate and dissipate in a constant state of metamorphosis.
Shaking the idea that a work of art is static and pre-determined, Lux Automata is more akin to a biological lifeform. It transforms and evolves in unpredictable ways based on its own internal ‘needs’ (to avoid boredom, to be stimulated, to be calm) which are influenced by the activity of people beneath it.
From scenes that are erratic and staccato to moments that are ambient and meditative, Lux Automata experiments with its appearance striving for an equilibrium. Exhibiting qualities that mirror consciousness, it questions: can we code creativity? Can AI individually author a piece of art?
Lux Automata is the result of an exciting, 3-year collaborative project conducted with DeepMind. The artwork is now situated in the lobby of DeepMind’s new headquarters in Kings Cross, London.
Film by Matt Watt
Photography by James Medcraft
Client: Brainium
Location: Portland, Oregon, USA
Year: 2022
A responsive media artwork that visualises real-time data as synapses firing across the brain.
In November 2020 we were approached by Brainium with a brief that was very of the moment. As the global pandemic sent everyone home, to work away from the office, businesses started to explore ways to attract people back in.
Ahead of the curve, Brainium approached us to ask for an experiential centrepiece for their new offices in Portland, Oregon. Looking to create a workspace that goes beyond functional requirements, the artwork needed to not only represent the company brand but become a playful communication tool.
The creator of popular mobile gaming apps, Brainium develops products that entertain and educate. From day to day, the Brainium team analyse vast data sets to understand how people are interacting with their products. Taking this data, as the only bridge between app developer and end user, Reaction Diffusion aims to transform the feedback loop into a tangible experience.
A sculptural representation of the human brain, the artwork takes inspiration from various methodologies scientists have used to map neural activity including late 18th and early 19th century drawings by Santiago Ramon y Cajal (known as the father of modern neuroscience) as well as modern MRI imaging. The eventual form emerged using a reaction-diffusion model to abstract the way neural tissue is folded to fit within the confines of the skull. These creases are represented via arc shaped circuit boards with embedded LEDs to reveal an artistic interpretation of the Brainium logo.
Part of a genre of responsive artworks that are activated by real-time data, including Variegation Index (2019), Emoticannes (2015) and Litmus (2005), Reaction Diffusion visualises the performance of Brainium apps. Events such as games won, apps removed, and new sessions are illustrated via various behaviours and colours that reference synapses firing and electrical activity in the brain.
A visual anchor within the office, Reaction Diffusion brings Brainium employees closer to their customers. By gamifying events such as app crashes it invites collaborative problem solving and instigates a more open and social office environment.
Film by Keaton Rodgers
Photography by Josh Partee
Client: Dubai Future Foundation
Location: Museum of the Future, Dubai
Year: 2022
Created for the Museum of the Future in Dubai, The Centre is an inhabitable media artwork that uses water, light, vibration and sound to reawaken the senses. An antidote to an ever more digitally saturated reality, the installation offers an immediate, visceral experience inspired by historic ritual. For millennia, humans have sought unique ways to physically heal and spiritually recentre. Wide-ranging socio-cultural practices from Victorian spa therapies to Tibetan gong baths use water and vibration for restorative purposes.
Inspired by these traditions, The Centre is a healing environment for future generations. Within the space, an elevated, celestial ‘well’ holds a shallow layer of water. As highly controlled oscillations act upon the liquid, an immersive soundscape envelops the room. Light cast through the central lens projects animated caustics into a vast architectural dome bathing visitors beneath in delicate, liquid light. Ever evolving, the light and soundscape uses a tightly honed palette of effects inspired by the water cycle. Water coalesces to form clouds, falls as rain, flows as meandering streams and rejoins the ocean.
Suspended from place and time, The Centre encourages a moment of stillness. It asks if by recentring and looking inwards, we can in turn be more open and personally connected to those around us.
Film and photography by Sandra Ciampone
Sound Design by Daniel Sonabend
Client: Hankook Tire
Location: Seoul, South Korea
Year: 2020
Dynamic Tread is a triptych media artwork. Sitting behind the main reception of Hankook Tire’s new headquarters in Pangyo, Seoul, the artwork honours the pioneering research Hankook Tire is undertaking to develop dynamic tyre treads that respond and adapt to changing weather and road conditions in real-time.
Made from a large-scale matrix of cylindrical glass nodes, with embedded LED arrays, the artwork analyses live weather data and uses a generative algorithm to inform complex choreographies of light. In a series of keyframes, radial monochromatic patterns evolve and represent the changing tire treads as weather conditions shift outside. The dancing geometric textures of light are set against a contrasting dark grey ceramic canvas.
Film and photography by Giraffe Pictures
Music by Kloyd
Client: Hankook Tire
Location: Seoul, South Korea
Year: 2020
Deriving its name from the arrangement of leaves on a stem, Digital Phyllotaxy is a physical metaphor for a tree. Designed for Hankook Tire’s new headquarters in Pangyo, Seoul, the artwork is inspired by the vertical journey through the building and explores the idea of split-level experiences. As people ascend through the vast architectural ‘oculus’ they witness the interplay of dappled light below, within and above the canopy. Leaves digitally rustle and change colour with the seasons transforming the journey on the escalator into an encounter with nature.
16m in diameter, Digital Phyllotaxy uses a bespoke media assembly comprised of edge-lit LED units and liquid crystal shutters. The layering of each component is choreographed to create delicate volumes of illumination and obscuration. A palette of inputs including sun paths, wind speeds and the movement of people passing by, trigger a generative atmosphere with the everchanging, arboreal crown.
Film and photography by Giraffe Pictures
Music by Kloyd
Client: The Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Arts Council Tokyo (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture)
Special Support: British Council
Location: Ueno Park, Tokyo
Year: 2021
Spanning art, technology and sports, The Constant Gardeners is a vast, kinetic art installation combining ancient Japanese tradition with cutting-edge computing and industrial robotics.
Taking inspiration from a traditional Japanese Zen Garden, four industrial robot arms are poised around an expansive gravel canvas before they awaken and start to rake the surface. In a series of daily performances, these ‘gardeners’ work together to create unique, evolving illustrations representing the movements of athletes. Generated by a series of bespoke algorithms, that analyse video footage of Olympic and Paralympic events, some illustrations depict a movement unfolding over time while others shine a light on one spectacular sporting moment.
A meditation on tradition, craftsmanship and the evolving roles of technology, The Constant Gardeners offers visitors a peaceful space for quiet introspection. The artwork explores a new narrative around robotics, showing this technology to be a force capable of artistic creativity and experimental action, one that is instrumental in our journey toward a happier and healthier future.
The Constant Gardeners launched in Ueno Park, Tokyo, on the 28th July 2021 and ran until the 5th September 2021 to coincide with the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Videographer: Sam King
Editor: Andy Nagashima
Music: Noah Ings (original score) | Globe Town Records
Client: Trinity College Cambridge and TusPark
Commissions Advisors: Commission Projects
Location: Cambridge Science Park, Cambridge
Year: 2021
Latent Facade
Inspired by the pioneering research undertaken on the Cambridge Science Park, Latent Façade is an exploration of image capture and computer vision. Its cellular form references the work of Sir Nevill Mott who first described ‘latent image” - the process by which light transforms hexagonal silver halide crystals within photographic film to record an invisible ‘trace’. Situated on the south-west and south-east façades of a landmark building designed by architects Scott Brownrigg, the artwork explores how images are recorded, stored and creatively reimagined.
During the day, two motion detection cameras become the artwork’s “eyes” observing pedestrian and vehicular movements which are then recounted in real-time as animated patterns of light. At night, or during quiet spells, the artwork closes its eyes and ‘dreams’. Using bespoke, generative algorithms, it samples a library of recorded visitor movements randomly selecting one ‘trace’ at a time and using it as a seed for an evolving display. This behaviour recalls human tendency to seek patterns - an innate condition that affords people the ability to comprehend reality but also sometimes results in the perception of images where none exist.
Latent Façade finds beauty in the mundane. By interpreting everyday actions as unpredictable, performative patterns it explores how art can transform the built environment into a dynamic ever-changing spectacle.
Photography by James Medcraft / Film by Matt Watt - Hotmilk Films
Music by Tom Cove
Client: British Land
Location: Regent’s Place Campus, London
Year: 2019
Variegation Index
A site-specific media artwork for British Land located in the reception area of 20 Triton Street at the Regents Place Campus. The artwork consists of 293 digital cells that cascade across the wall and expand the idea of plants giving feedback to their environment through photosynthesis. An array of plants, placed below the artwork, are discreetly being ‘observed’ via bespoke cameras which measure chlorophyll levels within the leaves then translate this into a real-time data visualisation.
The technology takes inspiration from NDVI cameras, a specialised system that farmers use to monitor the health of their plants. Our custom-built version uses infrared light to assess the amount of chlorophyll being immitted in a process called variegation and translates this into an oscillating language of light projection and indexes.
The artwork builds on previous works produced through the studio which explore digitising natural phenomena, touching on the relationship between people, nature and themes of wellness.
Photography by James Medcraft / Film by Matt Watt - Hotmilk Films
Client: Quintain
Location: Royal Route, Wembley, London
Year: 2019
Shadow Wall
A site-specific monochromatic media artwork focused on the eastern elevation of the Royal Route underpass. The shadows and silhouettes of the crowds passing through the space generate the resultant artwork.
The canvas is light sensitive and with a multitude of shadows overlaying creates a palimpsest effect on the surface. The slotted metallic facade references the ebb and flow of the crowds entering and departing Wembley Park.
Part of a genre of full height shadow portraiture including Digital Double (2015), Back to Front (2014), Platform 5 (2011) & Mirror Mirror (2009).
Royal Wave
A site-specific media artwork located on the balustrades of the Royal Route.
Royal Wave is inspired by the journeys in and out of the stadium that historically were celebrated by audiences lining the edges of the routes.
As the crowds approach the underpass from the southerly or northerly direction they are greeted by a scaled and bespoke lenticular wave generated from portraits of local people and the observer’s movement in relation to it.
A parametric algorithm was used to evaluate the frames of movement from a community engagement photo shoot with local people cheering on the route and applied to the large format lenticular artwork. The lenticular formatting was developed with a unique understanding from the site and analysis of the vistas leading up to the underpass.
The fifteen upcycled signage panels have been repurposed as a dynamic piece that bring the local participants to the artwork.
Photography by James Medcraft / Film by Matt Watt - Hotmilk Films
Client: Dallas Lovefield Airport
Location: Dallas Lovefield Airport, Texas, USA
Year: 2019
Vector Field is a site-specific media artwork for Dallas Lovefield Airport. Created through autonomous patterns of light formed by the rhythm of passengers on the moving walkway. The gamut of light used from the RGBW LED’s is inspired by the epic and colourful skies of Lovefield, Texas.
Comprised of 100 individually addressable LED rings and suspended in a voxel arrangement, the eddies, currents and vortexes of light are generated by adjacent passenger movement.
The bespoke rings cascading along the line of the circulation route are triggered by people walking and creating disturbances in the air, each interacting with past patterns and creating echoes of their movement.
Client: Culture Mile
Location: Beech Street, The Barbican, London
Year: 2018
Brutalist Tapestry is a large-scale installation on the south side of Beech Street Tunnel which uses data gathered from around Culture Mile to relay stories through mechanical tapestries.
The artwork replaces a 21-metre section of panels on the south side of Beech Street (the ground level route opposite Barbican Underground) with a programmable ‘tapestry’ of machine-made, analogue, pixels. The artwork then instructs three moving electronic arms to alter the positioning of its pixels and translate Culture Mile data into new patterns for passers-by. In doing so, Brutalist Tapestry prompts questions about the future possibilities for this space and marks the next stage of Culture Mile’s long-term ambition to transform Beech Street.
From Monday 4 March 2019, the artwork will abstractly display data generated from social media activity from and about the local area. Hashtags relating to Culture Mile partner activity that will drive the artwork include the Barbican’s #LifeRewired season, the upcoming #BeastsOfLondon immersive experience at the Museum of London and Instagram content signposted #IGBarbican. By referencing any of these three hashtags, Culture Mile visitors have the opportunity to indirectly play a part in forming and shaping Brutalist Tapestry themselves.
Brutalist Tapestry was originally inspired by the hand-crafted concrete finish of the Barbican Estate; the handmade, analogue technology of its moving pixels references the bush-hammering process used to create the distinctive Barbican Estate concrete textures. It also turns the existing colour pallet of Beech Street’s cladding, designed by Simon Hay, into an experimental and reactive surface.
Since its original launch during London Design Festival 2018, the artwork has experimented with a range of inputs to generate new facades for the tunnel, including samples from Between the Storeys, a Poet in the City partnership, and Brutalist imagery collated from around the Barbican Estate archives.
Client: Helical
Location: The Bower, Old Street, London
Year: 2018
Perlin Canopy is a site-specific media artwork inspired by the shady arbour that once lined the historic bathing landscape on the site of the new Bower development by Helical. Comprised of 80 individually addressable LED rings and suspended by brass rods in a modular arrangement which evoke the bower-like canopy of past.
The artwork further explores the Studio’s previous work digitising natural phenomena; in particular we were fascinated by ‘komorebi’ a Japanese term for light filtering through trees and the interplay between the two. In this instance, Perlin noise, an algorithm for visual effects was used to manipulate multiple layers, driven through the rings to create elegant slithers of light.
The bespoke media canopy explores the experience of seasonal and daily weather conditions, creating a light and shadow projection of colour filtering through arboreal layers. The installation both mirrors its external surroundings and responds to the flow through the foyer.
Client: British Land
Location: 2 Kingdom Street, London
Year: 2018
Jason Bruges Studio were commissioned by British Land to create a media/light artwork that would enhance the quality of 2 Kingdom Street lobby and improve the visitor experience.
The artwork is reminiscent of an illusionistic renaissance quadratura recreating the external environment within the lobby. Suspended across the double height space is a field of bespoke hemispherical reflectors with their internal animations driven by current weather conditions. The combined affect is a live 21st Century trompe l’œil rendering of the sky outside.
Icosahedral Sky takes its name from the 20 sided shape which was used to design the interior surface of each reflector hemisphere. Every side and edge of an icosahedron is equal meaning it can be subdivided many many times to create a highly reflective, multifaceted texture.
Jason Bruges Studio have devised a system that can produce a complex array of different lightscapes by bouncing light against this unique surface. The result is a dynamic lobby that evokes a public piazza, where people can be immersed in beautiful qualities of light.
Client: Peldon Rose for XTX Markets
Location: Kings Cross, London
Year: 2018
Inspired by XTX’s love for programming and mathematics, the Pentagonal Portal art installation is an algorithmic study in itself. The design is based on the 15th monohedral tiling convex pentagon, which is the final solution to a mathematical problem devised by Reinhardt in 1918. The 15th solution was discovered using a computer algorithm in 2015, and proven to be the final solution in 2017.
For the first time, this pattern has been animated as a cellular automata. The system uses a modified set of rules based on Conway’s Game of Life, but operates over the five faces of the pentagon. This has never been achieved before, and is inspired by the firm’s highly methodical approach and importance of code and algorithms in their day to day business.
The wall of light is designed to challenge the minds of the people who can understand it, and visually captivate the minds of those who don’t.
Jason Bruges Studio provided innovative design and technology skills to conceptually develop and deliver the bespoke installations in both the Experience Tunnel and in the Pentagonal Portal. These unique, interactive art pieces go beyond simple aesthetics. They required over 35,000 LEDs to transform these parts of the office into memorable, experiential moments.
As you move through the Pentagonal Portal, you arrive in the Experience Tunnel, which again looks like something you would expect to find on the set of a sci-fi movie. As you move through the tunnel, thousands of bespoke individual sensor and light units detect your movement and illuminate to capture your silhouette in lights, making the transition through the office space an engaging experience.
Client: Hull 2017
Location: Hull Old Town, Hull
Year: 2017/18
Where Do We Go from Here? uses a specially choreographed interplay of light, shadow and sound to guide people through Hull's Old Town. It encourages people to explore the city's night-time streets as dormant robots awaken, responding to the city's architecture, interacting with one another and with Hull's residents and visitors.
The site-specific installations focus on three areas around Hull's Old Town, each featuring a different configuration of re-purposed industrial robots of varying sizes from ground to rooftop. The robots communicate through woven networks and act as light guides creating kinetic animations resulting in an inquisitive acquaintance with the city. With a wide range of light effects, from beams to constellations, shadows and reflections, the robots animate and highlight unseen places and encourage people to see Hull in a new light. Specially sourced and curated soundscapes add to the experience.
The commission's exhilarating mix of art and technology embodies key themes for Hull as it reflects on a successful year as UK City of Culture and looks towards the future.
Client: In collaboration with JAC studios & No Parking and supported by the Esbjerg Municipality
Location: Wadden Sea Visitor Centre, Vester Vedsted, Denmark
Year: 2017
In 2014 Jason Bruges Studio won the competition, in collaboration with JAC Studios, to create an immersive installation that represents the 12 million migratory birds and the unique landscape of the Nationalpark. Digital Ornithology is the last sequence of the exhibition, which follows a journey of exploration and discovery of the native birds, to being fully immersed in their unique habitat and behaviours. The space allows visitors to be at eye height and experience the take off and landings at close proximity, thereby amplifying the presence of the birds. The installation is comprised of 562 LCD screens suspended from the ceiling in a sequence that represents the migration of the birds. With an amalgamation of projection mapping of live footage and the light-modulating behaviour of the LCD’s, the result is an ephemeral and captivating acquaintance.
Client: Le Grand Musée du Parfum
Location: Le Grand Musée du Parfum, Paris
Year: 2016
Scent Constellation, a permanent installation at Le Grand Musée du Parfum in Paris, is a dynamic, spatial, multi sensorial art piece that simultaneously represents the perfumer’s organ and visualises the process of creating a scent.
Five perfume typologies are characterised; Eau de Cologne, Oriental, Fougères, Floral, and Chypre, each type is interpreted by a moving constellation of light in a mesmerising cloud between the prismatic nodes. The formulaic relationship between the perfumer’s assistant, the perfumer and up to 200 raw ingredients are represented by a web of crisp lines of light and a corresponding soundscape. The generative light and sound symphony creates a poetic visual metaphor for the process of imagining new perfumes.
An algorithm generates a network of traced lines of light, which scribe via prisms to create crystalline-like facets, that represent the mathematical relationships between the ingredients. The soundscape is created from a library of sounds developed in response to the scent families, and representative of the stability and duration of the raw materials as they are mixed for the final perfume composition.
Winner of Light Art Project of the Year at the Lighting Design Awards 2017
Client: Make it York
Location: York Minster, York
Year: 2016
Illuminating York, supported by Arts Council England, is an annual event which sees a variety of designers invited to create light installations across the historic city. The Festival encourages visitors to explore and discover the city through the imagination of artists, using the medium of light in all its forms.
Light Masonry is an epic, site specific, light installation based in the main nave of York Minster. The artwork is founded on the construct of creating a secondary layer of dynamic, temporal and ephemeral architecture sculptured from light. Inspired by the continuous crafting and iterating of the layers of work by the Minster’s stonemasons, the studio has investigated the relationship between the vaults, light and the audience. Drawing upon the ceremonial nature of the space, the studio has created a synchronized procession of light that highlights and explores the nave as a choreographed architectural experience. The art installation inscribes the perimeter of the main nave and is constructed from a bespoke system of 48 computer controlled Icon Beam moving head luminaires, animating a dynamic light architecture around the atmospheric volumes of the nave. The piece is immersive and complimented by the soundscape of Intervallo by Arvo Pärt, performed by John Bradbury and Benjamin Morris the Minsters organists.
Awarded a Pencil at the D&AD Awards 2017
Client: Henry B. Gonzales Convention Centre, PASA
Location: San Antonio, Texas, USA
Year: 2016
Media: LCD panels, custom electronics, steel frame, 3d printed components, sensors, terrazzo plinth.
Dimensions: 10m x 1.8m x 1.8m
Drawing from our rich history of exploring the relationship between natural flows and digital representation, and inspired by the San Antonio River that runs through the city, ‘Liquid Crystal’ explores the parallels between the flow of the water and the flow of people in the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center.
The tower is comprised of active digital liquid crystal panels which are controlled to transmit and reflect light to varying degrees, creating an undulating, shimmering effect. Through sensing its environment these effects are influenced by the amount of activity in the space, resulting in a continuously evolving visual spectacle within the atrium lobby.
Client: Tridel
Location: Toronto, Canada
Year: 2014
Media: Granite, LED lights, bespoke PCB’s, sensors, glass lenses, stainless steel structure, bespoke control electronics
Dimensions: x6 3m tall by 60cm wide and 20cm deep granite structures
‘Back to Front’, consists of an array of monolithic granite structures that sense changing levels of light within the park in real-time. People walk through the park, trees shift and the sun moves across the site, casting dynamic shadows onto the monoliths. These shadows are sensed by the artwork and transferred through the depth of the granite structure to reveal animated silhouettes on the opposite side. Images are revealed by controlling an array of LED lights, which are diffused by glass lenses embedded within the stone. The aim is to create an enjoyable and dynamic experience for pedestrians, which reflects the changing weather fronts that envelop the city.
Unique analogue electronic printed circuit boards (PCBs) have been developed for use inside the artwork. Each individual LED/sensor node across the face of the granite monolith works autonomously, both sensing and emitting unique levels of light simultaneously. Imagery emerges from the combined behaviour of each individual LED node.
The installation is able to detect static shadows from buildings, light and shade resulting from different times of day and seasonal changes, as well as dynamic movement from surrounding people and trees. The studio took inspiration from the characteristic lake effect ‘weather fronts’ experienced in Toronto; weather boundaries that separate two masses of air of different densities, that dramatically affect the city’s climate all year round.
Client: Nexus
Location: Sunderland, UK
Year: 2011
Media: Glass blocks, bespoke LED nodes, custom metal structure, train sensors, custom electronic control system
Dimensions: 144m long and 3m tall
Commissioned by Nexus, transport operators for the North East, and unveiled at Sunderland Station, this 144m long piece presents a virtual platform filled with passengers shadows within a glass block wall. The 3m tall glass block wall in the underground train station has been turned into a large low-resolution video matrix (755×15 pixels). Behind the wall is a disused platform, which long ago used to see passengers waiting for trains. Now the tracks are long gone and the old platform is hidden from view, we have created characters that appear behind the glass wall opposite passengers waiting for the trains.
Client: Guo Rui Real Estate Development Company Ltd.
Location: Beijing, China
Year: 2014
Media: Periscope LED light engines, bespoke mirror optics, bespoke dichroic crystals, IP camera, control system.
Dimensions: 14.25m x 10m x 0.30m
The Studio was commissioned by Beijing Guo Rui Real Estate Development Company to create an interactive feature wall which would change appearance according to different times of the day, different seasons and activities in and around the multi-function hall.
We explored many artistic interpretations and eventually developed a mixed media digital artwork that is our interpretation of the Chinese Plum Blossom. The plum blossom, known as the Meihua (梅花), is one of the most beloved flowers in China and has been frequently depicted in Chinese art and poetry for centuries.
The artwork is reminiscent of a frieze or floral painting, branching up the wall from solo or multiple interactions at its base. Clusters of periscope LED light engines refract and reflect creating an amplifying effect via a network of dichroic wall sculptures. The colour spectrum of the dichroic effectors is based on a green and magenta, being especially developed with reference to plum blossom. The light folds ascending across the wall, branching out as it makes progress skyward.
The growth effect progresses up the wall dependent on an algorithm which considers the number of people standing next to the wall, their proximity, dwell time and grouping. In a neutral state the artwork has a rest mode, which like a screen saver intrigues and attracts passersby.
Client: London & Regional
Location: London, UK
Year: 2008
Jason Bruges Studio were commissioned to re-engage the former HQ of Marks & Spencer on Baker Street with the environment around it, serving as a leading example of how public art can be used to upgrade the greater visual environment and positively influence the perception of an area. The brief also stressed the importance of a visually stimulating, animated piece that would encourage the public to enter the atrium of the building.
We collaborated with architect’s Make and, working with the scale of the building, created an innovative and fully integrated light scheme. The design was inspired by traditional Venetian masks, with the lights enabling the facade to change its characteristics, reminiscent of the way a person may use a mask to assume a new identity.
Client: Great Ormond Street Hospital
Location: London, UK
Year: 2012
Media: Bespoke hospital grade wallpaper, sensors, bespoke integrated LED panels, custom control electronics.
Dimensions: 165m long x 2.5m high corridor
Jason Bruges Studio has completed a unique project for Great Ormond Street Hospital for children to improve their journey to theatre.
The brief was to design and install a distraction artwork helping to create a calming yet engaging route that culminates in the patient’s arrival at the anaesthetic room. Inspiration came from the idea of viewing the patient journey as a ‘Nature Trail’, where the hospital walls become the natural canvas, with digital look out points that reveal the various ‘forest creatures’, including horses, deer, hedgehogs, birds and frogs, to the passerby.
The work has been installed in the theatres floor within the hospital’s new Morgan Stanley Clinical Building, the first part of the Mittal Children’s Medical Centre.
The work, which covers the corridor walls, has essentially two main elements; integrated LED panels and bespoke graphic wallpaper. The LED panels are embedded into the wall surface at various heights in order to be accessible to the eye levels and positions of patients travelling along the corridors. Across these digital surfaces abstracted ‘animal movements’ are recreated as interactive animated patterns of light which reveal themselves through the trees & foliage of the forest. The artwork consists of 70 LED panels, with a total of 72,000 LED’s.
We have been engaged to extend the piece into a further extension of the hospital, with completion estimated for spring 2017.
Client: Westfield Stratford City
Location: London, UK
Year: 2011
Media: LCD panels, aluminium structure, custom control electronics
Dimensions: 12m x 2m x 2m
Jason Bruges Studio was commissioned by Westfield Stratford City to design and install a public artwork for the new Westfield development in Stratford, East London. The installation sits on the main pedestrian routes from both Stratford Underground and Stratford International Stations to the Olympic Stadium.
The artwork captures the essence of water both visually and acoustically, relaying the effect digitally through a unique combination of glass, aluminium and LCD technology.
Between the 12m high ‘Water Fall’ sculpture and the seven 8m long ‘Water Rill’ benches, seven thousand LCD screens are individually programmed to fade in and out in a liquid manner. In addition, seventy-four speakers are individually orchestrated to provide a complementary soundscape.
The programming behind the scenes only describes the personality of the artwork, never its precise motion. This results in a continuously evolving, never-repeating audio-visual cascade.
Client: Victoria & Albert Museum
Location: London, UK
Year: 2009
Mirror, Mirror was commissioned by the V&A in partnership with SAP to feature in the Decode: Digital Design Sensation exhibition and was on display in the John Madejski Garden from 8 December until 11 April 2010.
Mirror, Mirror explores the concept of narcissism and the individual’s relationship with space and others. The playful nature of the work encourages you to explore the interactivity and consider the interconnected relationships.
The white dot matrix digital panels seem to float on the pond, awakening as visitors come into view. Cameras mounted within the LED dot matrices capture activity in the garden and simultaneously reflect this back to the viewer; the animated images are then mirrored once again in the surface of the water, creating multiple reflections.
Client: The Shard
Location: London, UK
Year: 2015
Media: Bespoke LED pixel units, searchlights, fog custom control hardware and software.
Dimensions: 160m x 50m x 50m
The Shard commissioned Jason Bruges Studio to create Western Europe’s highest art installation to celebrate London’s festive season and countdown to NYE 2014. Working alongside SGM and Production Resource Group, industry experts in the field of entertainment lighting and large scale theatrical and stadium installations, our team created a dynamic piece of public art designed to reflect and evoke the spirit and energy of the city in the year The Shard became an internationally recognised beacon for modern London.
Visible across the capital, Shard Lights was a daily-changing light display occupying the top 40 storeys and spire of The Shard. The ground-breaking nightly event used the latest technical innovations, including back projection into mist within the spire creating a dynamic colour canvas on the facade, and the use of the world’s first IP rated moving headLED lamp.
On New Year’s Eve the countdown was created by a giant pixelated numeric supergraphic, configured to The Shard’s windows, and was synced to London’s famous New Year’s Eve fireworks display. The NYE celebration lighting also featured layers of searchlights, sparkling strobes and a dynamic colour wash.
Client: Scottish and Southern Electricity
Location: London, UK
Year: 2008
Power Up, by Jason Bruges Studio, is an integrated artwork that monitors and displays the variations in power demand for the local area in Dagenham, East London.
The design considers the practical requirements of a substation whilst creating an unexpected and unusual addition to the landscape, day and night. The utilitarian nature of the switch room and transformers is complemented and contrasted by the soft edges of the illuminated, floating spheres. The simple boundary fence forms a bold rectangular envelope, creating a rhythmic, moving view of the illuminated objects for passing motorists.
Client: Silken Group
Location: Madrid
Year: 2005
The Memory Wall at Hotel Puerta America, Madrid was a direct collaboration with architect Kathryn Findlay.
This project seeks to differentiate the lobby space which, no matter how beautiful and ‘boutique’ a hotel might be, can often leave a visitor feeling they could be anywhere in the world. At Puerta America the spaces are transformed into visually stunning environments that interact with hotel guests, creating a unique environment every time a different person moves through the space.
Memory Wall is integrated into the lobby and interacts with individuals passing by as a real-time video controlled environment. Motion and body mass are captured, filtered and displayed on a light canvas, embedded in the wall, in one continuous loop. As guests pass by they see distorted images of themselves and as the day goes on, the images linger and change, and move into one another, creating a wall of memories.
Client: World Wild Fund for Nature
Location: Woking, UK
Year: 2010
Media: 100 Panda donation boxes, custom motors & control hardware, thermal sensing camera, timber plinth.
Originally created for Pandamonium and curated by Artwise for the WWF, Panda Eyes was Jason Bruges Studio’s response to raise awareness of climate change.
The artwork comprises of an army of a hundred collection boxes in the shape of the WWF’s emblematic Panda logo. The loveable bears rotate autonomously, tracking the presence of visitors to the Museum. This project illustrates the keen support Jason Bruges Studio shows to the work and intentions of WWF.
Client: McAleer & Rushe
Location: London, UK
Year: 2010
Jason Bruges Studio’s integrated public art installation, commissioned by developers McAleer & Rushe, is London’s first responsive and illuminated façade artwork.
Showtime captures the changing colour and light of the city’s skyline 24 hours a day via cameras mounted on the W Hotel roof in Leicester Square, the result of which is recreated on the façade of the building using 600 lights diffused through fritted glass.
The content is interpreted as short performances on the façade during the hours of darkness, and reflects the unique character of the location in the centre of the capital’s vivid West End.
The display changes dramatically from day to night, season to season and according to cultural events taking place nearby, meaning every day brings a unique performance.
The site of the W Hotel has a long history in cultural diversity dating back to the 19th century when Burford’s Panorama and Wyld’s Globe were open for visitors to experience scenery and imagery never seen before on such a scale.
Client: SolstiCE Light Festival
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Year: 2008
The act of gift wrapping is an art form.
For the SolstiCE festival which followed part of la Petite Ceinture (inner ring road), Jason Bruges Studio created an interactive lighting installation at Dexia Tower at Place Rogier. The structure was enveloped with the colours worn by the people of Brussels. The light ramp, a deceiving extension of the Dexia building facade, ‘pulled’ colours from individuals that pass in front of it, wrapping them onto itself and up the tower.
Client: London Borough of Havering
Location: London, UK
Year: 2005
Commissioned by the London Borough of Havering, four landmark sculptures were designed as giant litmus papers responding to a variety of environmental stimuli. Litmus comprises four twelve-metre high sculptures,
Placed on separate roundabouts near the raised A13 highway and visible to passing motorists, the installations were created to draw attention to the brownfield sites adjacent to the road and the forthcoming regeneration of the area.
Two of the towers measure and display the light levels and tide levels at Tilbury. The latter is particularly important for the RSPB, who monitor birds on the marshes and are one of the stakeholders in the project.
Marsh Way is the site of a further two towers. The southern ‘Litmus’ tower displays the power generated by the neighbouring wind turbine while the northern tower records and displays the volume of traffic entering into the Rainham area.
Client: Eircom
Location: Dublin, Ireland, UK
Year: 2009
What if you could see an e-mail travelling to a friend?
Commissioned for Eircom’s new corporate headquarters at 1 Hueston South Quarter, Dublin and inspired by their broadband operations, Jason Bruges Studio created an enormous light artwork across the façade of the building that acts as a canvas displaying a representation of Eircom’s network activity. The colours and movement of light on the façade demonstrates the different Eircom network traffic such as email, online video and ecommerce. It is also possible to compare different counties in Ireland using the same type of network traffic. The piece continues the studio’s exploration into visualising the invisible and drawing attention to the things that we take for granted.
Client: Self Initiated
Location: London, UK
Year: 2010
Jason Bruges Studio was commissioned by Self Initiated, to create Reflex Portraits; a series of 6 unique animated digital portraits exploring reactions.
The series is a development of the studio’s Mirror Mirror piece that was exhibited in Beijing as part of the global tour of Decode: Digital Design Sensations - by the V&A Museum and onedotzero.
The piece explores digital narcissism and the work is as much about the way viewers respond to the portraits as to the canvases themselves.
Client: Allen & Overy
Location: London, UK
Year: 2007
Media: Custom LED nodes, custom suspension data cable, control electronics.
Dimensions: 30m x 12m x 12m
Pixel Cloud is an eight storey high 3D matrix of light globes suspended in the North Atrium of the Allen & Overy building in Spitalfields, London.
Jason Bruges Studio’s R&D process produced a unique and individually accessible light globe. The overall chandelier reacts in real-time to changes in environmental conditions broadcast from the worldwide network of Allen & Overy offices.
Pixel Cloud won the Workplace Environment category at the Design Week Awards, 2009.
Client: Park Plaza Hotel
Location: London, UK
Year: 2010
Taking inspiration from the experience of the iconic Westminster Bridge and the proximity of the Thames, Jason Bruges Studio created an artwork that dynamically reflects the spectacular context of the river.
The surface of the artwork responds in the same way as the surface of the Thames with a sensor on the roof of The Park Plaza Hotel, detecting the speed and direction of the wind in real time.
This data informs an ever-changing pattern of light on the surface of the sculpture.
Situated outside the main entrance of the Park Plaza, Surface Tension evokes the animated, celebratory and calming qualities of water features traditionally found in hotel forecourts.
Client: London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Location: London, UK
Year: 2008
Jason Bruges Studio was commissioned to create a lighting installation for the redevelopment of Normand park, which aimed to engage the local community with the space
Working with Kinnear Landscape Architects, local residents and young people from beginning through to completion, this art intervention is fully integrated into the landscape design and have a space where the community could have ownership of the artwork.
As individuals pass by a column, the lights are triggered to ‘grow’ up the trunk of the tree and along the canopy. From dusk onwards, the trees become a living canvas for passers-by, animating the park in an endlessly new and playful way. Each column resides next to their respective tree, highlighting drawing upon nature. Collectively, the animated trees will create a theatrical sense of depth, as layers of colour, movement and shadow become apparent near and far.
Client: Tea Building
Location: London, UK
Year: 2005
Jason Bruges Studio was commissioned by the Tea Building, a former tea warehouse in Shoreditch.
Countdown allows visitors to know exactly how much time they have left to place their drink orders. The clock counts only in seconds and displays the amount of time left in a diffused white LED matrix.
Client: Royal London Asset Management
Location: London, UK
Year: 2010
Jason Bruges Studio was commissioned by Royal London Asset Management to create Shortcut; The architects for the project were Squire and Partners.
Shortcut is a responsive lighting installation for the Dover Yard in London; a well-used pedestrian route linking Berkeley Street and Dover Street, near to Piccadilly and Green Park Tube Station. The artwork responds to the different speeds, rhythms and concentration of people in the alley, and a flowing pattern of light is built up in the passageway which reflects the recent movement.
White LED uplights, recessed into the paving, increase in intensity as people pass by causing a rippling wave of light to move through the passageway tracing their movement. When there are no pedestrians the lights dim to a low brightness to save energy while also providing a safe level of illumination.
Client: Youthscape
Location: Luton, UK
Year: 2016
Working with architects HOK and sponsored by car manufacturer Vauxhall, our client for this artwork was Youthscape, a charity that offers hope and practical help to young people. We designed and built an interactive wall which incorporates Vauxhall car parts into the design. The array of mechanical dynamic pixels respond to the movement of people passing through the space. Salvaged from car indictor lenses and using bespoke electronics, the lights behind the frosted glass front reciprocate the activity in the lobby and create an ever changing spectacle.
Client: State of Oregon
Location: Eugene, Oregon, USA
Year: 2011
Game Show is an interactive LCD artwork commissioned by the State of Oregon for the entrance of the new Matthew Knight Arena at the University of Oregon, Eugene.
The artwork tracks the movement and flow of play on the Arena’s basketball court using an overhead camera. The live activity is displayed on a tessellated concertina graphic surface, in deep greens and lightning yellows bringing together the university team’s kit colours, their nickname ‘The Ducks’, and the iridescence of mallard feathers. It generates a graphical interpretation of the flow and motion of the game as it happens, giving an artistic impression of the activity and intensity on court in real-time.
With a designed lifespan of twenty years, it is certain that this artwork will become an established part of Ducks fan culture. Bringing together stunning visuals, cutting edge generative art and the energy of the fans and players, Game Show is a true world first.
Client: Cambridge Regional College
Location: Cambridge, UK
Year: 2009
‘Get A Word In’, is an inspirational piece of permanent public artwork within the student entrance of Cambridge Regional College. The artwork evolved through working with the students to create an interactive, educational, communication ‘tool’ where they can voice their opinions, messages, stories, poetry and emotions. The installation has an intended lifetime of fifteen+ years.
Words, Phrases and Icons can be uploaded to scroll across a custom built double sided display screen located in the hall of the College and is visible from the College’s square.
Client: Morely Fund Management
Location: London, UK
Year: 2007
Jason Bruges Studio was commissioned by Morely Fund Management to create Recall; a large-scale integrated public artwork at Broadwick House.
The artwork is situated in a conservation area in London’s Soho. During the working day, the lifts in this busy office building rise and fall, open and close, carrying workers from floor to floor. But at night, the building sleeps and the lifts lie still.
Recall records the nuances of daytime activity and reproduces them at night as a kinetic artwork in amber light panels. The artwork is inspired by Broadwick House architect Richard Rogers’ philosophy of a 24-hour city.
Client: Self-Initiated
Location: London, UK
Year: 2006
Jason Bruges Studio was commissioned by self-initiated to create ‘Infinity Wall’ for the unveiling at 100% Light. The work challenges the concept of infinity and illusion, creating volumes of light in virtual space.
Client: Switched On London Festival
Location: London, UK
Year: 2008
Jason Bruges studio were commissioned by Switched On London Festival, to an art work that would reawaken commuters, encouraging them to be aware once more and the marvel of crossing the Thames on their way to work.
On a pavement where people leave only footprints, for the duration of the Festival, as people walked across London Bridge, they left coloured light ‘shadows’ as evidence of their passing. The installation had the form of a line of light, approximately 250metres long, projected onto the pavement on the East side of the bridge.
Client: Yota Festival
Location: St Petersburg, Russia
Year: 2010
Jason Bruges Studio brought a slice of London’s past to St Petersburg for Yota’s Festival 2010, with the exclusive ‘Peasouper’ artwork.
The studio showcased an interactive installation where activity at the Festival was combined with the infamous ‘peasoup’ fog, most associated with Dickensian London.
Visitors’ silhouettes appeared to float through the space as if passers-by in the foggy streets of the UK’s capital.
Client: London Clinic
Location: London, UK
Year: 2004
Jason Bruges Studio was commissioned by London Clinic to an artwork for their main entrance to their building.
When a person walks into the room, their motion through the lobby space triggers a choreographed, rippling pattern of light across the wall, welcoming and directing you into the building.
Analogous to the natural phenomenon of photoreception, visitors are drawn by the motion, colour and changing intensity of the light.
Photoreception is the general scientific term used to describe the biological responses of organisms to light. Yellows and oranges are colours in the carotenoids range and have the strongest communicative properties, which helps species of flowers and animals to survive.
Client: Sony Playstation
Location: London, UK
Year: 2006
PSP Image Cloud was created for a V&A Friday Late.
The installation took unique content from visitors’ Playstation PSPs, which was then fed and split across fifty small monitors arranged in an organic form.
The screens could be used to display individual pictures or work together, to create a single image.
Client: Minister of Mobility & Public Works and the Minister of the Economy, as part of the Brussels Light Plan
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Year: 2008
Jason Bruges studio was commissioned to create Puppetrees, which was one of two installations created for the SolstiS festival. The multi-sensory dimensions of the city are used as the source material to create a luminous and ever-changing display.
Trees made of light gently swaying to the rhythm and sounds of the city. The rustle of virtual leaves reverberating in response to city sounds, was captured by microphones. They were programmed gently for conversations, and faster-paced as the noise of traffic increased.
Client: Tate Britain
Location: London, England, UK
Year: 2005
Jason Bruges Studio was commissioned by the Tate to create a temporary installation, comprising of an array of 40 wands in the main Octagon gallery. Each wand was 2 metres tall, and had a glowing sphere at the top that turned on only when the rods were touched and bent.
A second part of the installation was the generation of a “live painting” which tracked the interaction throughout the day. The resulting video piece gave a fascinating overview of the different movements occurring within the space.
Client: Sheffield Galleries and Museum Trust
Location: Sheffield, UK
Year: 2006
Jason Bruges Studio was commissioned to create an artwork that responds dynamically to the weather. They created a wind sensor on the gallery roof registers the wind speed and direction and relays data to the control system that drives fans in each tube. The height of the floating spheres fluctuates according to changes in the speed and direction of the wind.
This was created to be a part of the Sheffield Museum as, the Museum’s weather station at Weston Park has been recording the city’s weather for over 120 years. The station is managed by Sheffield Galleries and Museum Trust, as part of the national network of observation stations.
Client: RIBA
Location: London, UK
Year: 2007
In collaboration with onedotzero and Light Lab, Jason Bruges Studio Created Wind to Light, for Architecture Week 2007, of which the theme was, ‘How green is our space?’
The festival was focused on critical issues of climate change and sustainability, with the aim to inspire people to think creatively about the spaces around them.
‘Wind to Light’ was an idea that visualised wind movement across the built form with the use of mini turbines and LEDs, and draws attention to the potential of harnessing wind power as a source of energy.
Client: BFI Southbank
Location: London, UK
Year: 2008
The Aeolian tower – which means moved by the wind – was a 15m steel structure located next to Waterloo Bridge, erected as part of onedotzero’s Festival.
The tower was covered by 1200 tiny wind-powered LEDs; each one made of a plastic turbine, controlling circuits and three red LEDs. As wind blew over the tower, swirling patterns of light reveal the strength and direction of the breeze. A gentle wind of about 3mph (4.8kph) is needed for the lights to reach full brightness. The particular location was chosen because of the complex wind patterns that come off the River Thames and the bridge.
Aeolian Tower demonstrated how renewable energy can be used to power sustainable art and design and by visualising the invisible, drew attention to how much energy is freely available but is not being used.
