Windlicht by Roosegaarde – A Celebration of the Beauty of Green Energy

“Windlicht” is an artwork by Studio Roosegaarde showing the beauty of green energy. By means of special software and tracking technology, the windmill blades are detected to rotate at 280 km / hour. Straight green lines of LED light are connecting the blades of the individual windmills. It creates a dynamic play of light and movement.

Linking Light and Landscape

With Windlight, Roosegaarde intends to create the missing link between the Dutch and the beauty of our new landscape. I appreciate this project very much because of its awareness generating power to the crowd. The majority of local citizens may complain for years, see these ‘giants’ as a thorn in the flesh, call it horizon pollution. But times are changing, this next generation 21st century windmills are amidst us and part of our next generations life. While struggle about finding appreciated locations at sea goes on, the need and urgency of renewable energy keeps growing. Windlight can be experienced for free on the Eneco windfarm at Sint Annaland in Zeeland, Netherlands.

Waterlicht on Display in Middelburg, Zeeland, NL

By the way, I heard that the City of Middelburg invited Studio Roosegaarde to illuminate the celebration of 800 years Middelburg City in 2017 by means of it’s Waterlicht installation, an earlier success story of this amazing studio. If you ask me, there’s no more important area in all Western-Europe for raising water flood awareness… Curious to see how that works out!

If you want to learn a bit more on this wonderful area, please refer to the ‘About‘ page of this blog, there’s an impressive movie embedded on this particular area.

Pictures in this post are sourced from Studio Roosegaarde.

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Light-at-Play: Projecting a Color Globe onto Various Objects and Surfaces

A light or image projector is a top class module that includes an optical device for a targeted projection straight from a light source. It is used to project an image (or if you like moving images) onto a certain surface, commonly a projection screen or whiteboard. In this application, however, I assembled a small light projector and embedded a 3D printed color surface into it. After that, I’ve been doing some trial & error work in various settings. Come and see how wonderful this works out when the light ‘paints’ various objects and surfaces in my backyard.

Light-at-Play – A Hexagonal Lens Array illuminated by a projected Color Globe.

 

Light Projection: The Principles

The idea behind most projector lights is creating an image or concentrated hot spot by shining the light through a small transparent lens, for example to accentuate an object. The narrower the beam, the more precise and focussed the projection will be. LED lighting projectors are becoming more and more popular for use in a variety of applications. Emerging LED technology is now being applied onto a wide range of products, both for functional and decorative lighting purposes. Its durability and stability (incl. shockproofness) makes it an attractive lighting design option.

Light-at-Play – Painting Pavement with a Color Globe.

Projector Types and Use

The most common type of projector we are all aware of is the ‘video projector’: A digital replacement for the earlier types of projectors such as overhead- or slide projectors. These earlier types of projectors were mostly replaced with digital video projectors throughout the 1990s and early 2000s (decade), but old analog projectors are still used at some places, for example at my grandparents’ home.

Light-at-Play – Colored Spheres Array

LED Lighting Projectors are on the Rise

The latest generations of projectors are handheld projectors that use lasers or LEDs to project images, such as the device I used. A disadvantage is that its projections are hard to see if there is too much ambient light, so I limited this trial & error session to a fully dark garden environment only.

Light-at-Play – Olive Tree and Rising Color Globe.

This blog is just another proof of evidence how light can enrich your ambiance in a functional or decorative way and turn unintresting or indistinct materials into living surfaces!

Light at Play – Creating Vitreous Light Effects by RGB LED Lighting Application

“Lustre: The Way Light interacts with the Surface of a Crystal, a Rock, or a Mineral”.

The word ‘Lustre’ (also referred to as ‘Luster’) traces its origins back to the latin word ‘lux’, meaning “light”. Generally, it implies a radiance, gloss, or sparking brilliance appearance of an object lit by day- or artificial light.

A variety of terms are used to describe this sparkling light effect, such as earthy, metallic, greasy, and silky. Similarly, the term ‘vitreous’ (derived again from Latin, here from the word glass, vitrum) refers to a ‘glassy lustre’ as we display it here.

Lustre varies over a wide continuum, and so there are no rigid boundaries between the different types of lustre.
The terms are frequently combined to describe intermediate types of lustre.

Light-at-Play
It liturally became my passion to mess around with RGB LED light units and transparent items, such as optics or, like in this case balls of broken crystal glass to optimize the lustre effect. Exciting to see what happens!

If you want more footage, just refer to my Pinterest board ‘Lustre RGB Effects‘. Enjoy!

Bubble Lighting: Liquids and Air Bubbles Create Sublime Ambiance

TANGENT DESIGN’S KIHOU LIGHTS USE LIQUIDS AND AIR BUBBLES TO CREATE EXTRAORDINART LIGHT PLAY

‘KIHOU’ is a quite extraordinary, impressive indirect lighting product using two kinds of liquid and air bubbles. A ceramic bowl is filled with sticky liquid and a thin layer of black silicone oil floats on top. A small pump and LEDs are embedded in the bottom of the bowl, making luminous bubbles rise to the surface from the black liquid.

Mysterious Light

The indirect lighting product uses two kinds of liquid and air bubbles to realize an effervescent effect of pulsating golden bulbs. The rhythm of bubbles, the unexpected noise, stickiness of the liquid and lightness of the oil, and the mysterious contrast between the golden light and black surface all breathe life into this small cube, sublimating it into a product that people can feel an affinity with.

Tangent Design Studio

Tangent Design is known for developing unconventional illumination systems, creating ambient environments that result in sublime experiences as evidenced in this recent work ‘Kihou’.

Video and pictures are courtesy of tangent design.

Amsterdam is Flooding

Virtual Flood by Studio Roosegaarde at Museumplein Amsterdam Raises Water Awareness

Experience the Vulnerability of Water

Following the Artist Daan Roosegaarde latest installation “Waterlight” in Westervoort back in February, Studio Roosegaarde lets the visitor experience the almost forgotten power and vulnerability of water again. This time, the Museumplein in Amsterdam is hosting a 3-day public light art event to raise water awareness end emphasise the beauty and power of light.

As a virtual flood, Waterlight shows how high the water could reach without human intervention.

8 Acres of Inner Amsterdam Flooded

Located in the inner city of Amsterdam, Museumplein is an 8 acre square located in the inner city of Amsterdam that has been virtually placed underwater through the use wavy lines of light. Like the ‘Rainbow Station‘ project at Amsterdam Central Station by the end of 2014, ‘Waterlight’ is realized by implementing the latest LED technology, enabling software and lighting optics.

Public Access and Openings

“Waterlight by Roosegaarde” is open to the public and can be experienced from May 11 – 13th between 22:00 and 00:00 at the Museumplein in Amsterdam.

Waterlicht Project

WATERLICHT is the dream landscape about the power and poetry of water. As a virtual flood, it shows how high the water could reach without human intervention. Innovation is within the DNA of the Dutch landscape via its waterworks and creative thinking, yet we’ve almost seem to forgotten this. WATERLICHT is a powerful and poetic experience to remember.

WATERLICHT consists of wavy lines of light made with the latest LED technology, software and optics. First created for the Dutch Waterboard Rijn & IJssel in Westervoort, the artwork has now travelled to Museumplein Amsterdam.

Related post(s): ‘Waterlight’ by Studio Roosegaarde Creates Dutch Water Awareness

Photos in this post are courtesy of Studio Roosegaarde/Pim Hendriksen.

‘Waterlight’ by Studio Roosegaarde Creates Dutch Water Awareness

Roosegaarde presents another great work of art in “the Northern Light of the Netherlands”

By the end of February, 2015 Westervoort hosted the world premiere of ‘Waterlight‘. The latest artwork by Daan Roosegaarde is described by first visitors as the “the Northern Light of the Netherlands”.

From February 26 to March 1st, visitors could experience Waterlight in the flood channel of the river IJssel near Westervoort. Waterlight reveals the invisible artworks of the Netherlands, and will appear throughout the Netherlands in the coming years.

‘Waterlight’ by Studio Roosegaarde – Open field experience under night sky.

Waterlight is the result of a collaboration between Studio Roosegaarde and the Dutch water board Rhine and IJssel. “A combination of awareness and a dreamscape. By adding – aside from the latest LED-technology – experience and perception, we create a virtual flood.” says Daan Roosegaarde.

“Not our dykes, but our water consciousness is the weak spot in our flood protection”

The artwork Waterlight consists of wavy lines of light across an area of over 4 acres. Walking on the dike the light lines are perceived as high water, once in the flood channel you find yourself in an underwater world. The water boards are pleased with Waterlight.

‘Waterlight’ by Studio Roosegaarde – Fictive flood level hitting the Rhine and IJssel dikes.

“In Waterlight people experience what the Netherlands would look like without their dykes” says Hein Pieper, chairman of water board Rhine and IJssel. “Awareness is crucial, because the Dutch (water)artworks need every day maintenance and our national water awareness is the foundation of that maintenance.”

Dutch water works are unparalleled by any other country, but the water awareness leaves a great deal to be desired!

 

Every night for a moment: Rainbow Station

Rainbow Station by artist Daan Roosegaarde connects the historic Amsterdam Central Station by using astronomy science to create a site specific rainbow of light.

Together with astronomers of the University of Leiden, Roosegaarde unravels light efficiently into a spectrum of colours. Via new liquid crystal technology which is developed for research on exoplanets, Rainbow Station takes the exact shape of the 125 year old historic station roof.

Rainbow Station: Ode to IYL2015
The artwork marks the celebration of the 125th anniversary of the railway station, and the start of the UNESCO International Year of Light 2015 – IYL2015.

Rainbow Station can be seen every day for a brief moment within one hour after sunset at Amsterdam Centraal Station (east side, platform 2b). The light and colour offers the fifty million travellers a year, a magical moment at night.