Captured [Processing, Arduino]

"Captured" is a temporary installation realised in May 2011 by Nils Völker and graphic designer Sven Völker at MADE Space in Berlin. The installation is comprised of four hanging walls with 304 framed graphic pages and a field of 252 inflatable silver cushions. Both artworks related to the theme of light and air and interact with each other in a twelve minute performance that also includes sound.

Sven Völkers graphic work were his so called "books on walls" and narrated the installations four chapters of the intangible, the volume, the border and the ephemeral. Nils Völkers custom made inflatable air bags were programed by the artist to create sequences according to the chapters. He also controlled the existing multi-colour light system to intensify the dramaturgy and to create a close relationship between all elements.

The setup consists of 252 modules, inflating cushions made from space blankets, that cover about 130 square meter on the floor. Inside each module there are eight cpu cooling fans inflating and deflating each bag in variable speeds. All together there are 2016 fans moving about 60 cubic meters of air. The whole set is controlled by a single Arduino board with shift registers attached to it to receive a total of 504 output pins. In this way every single bag could be controlled fully independently.

In a addition, the exhibition space includes a pre-installed lighting system. It consists of 255 large lamps of which each is equipped with both a fluorescent lamp and rgb-leds. During the performance it was controlled by a program Nils wrote in Processing which was able to access each lamp individually. The Processing program did also take care of the sound playback and the timing for the Arduino programs.

For more information see project pages:
nilsvoelker.com
svenvoelker.com
made-blog.com

Previously:
Variations on PI [Processing, Objects] – LED machine used to …
One Hundred and Eight [Processing] – interactive Installation made …