Pixel Flow, Peru
Claudia Paz Studio’s latest light art installation challenges the general public to feel the freedom of expressing themselves while exploring their senses in a surrounding space generated by light and sound.
Pixel Flow is an immersive interactive light and sound installation created by Claudia Paz Studio for the general public to explore emotive experiences.
The concept was to integrate the installation within a public space, giving people a magical moment in an urban area where they can interact with the installation and surroundings to create a social environment.
The idea behind the installation was to explore the visitors’ senses in a surrounding space generated by light and sound that allows them to express themselves freely.
The aim was that people should feel wrapped in a spiral of light pixels and sounds that are activated by the natural flow of the body, creating a unique and magical experience. A number of highly detailed immersive scenes allow the exploration of unforgettable scenarios within the installation. There are ten different scenarios in total, each one designed to have a different experience. Particles of light gently encompass the participants, immersing them in an audiovisual landscape in which even the slightest movement generates light and sound across the space. With each gesture the patterns of colour evolve and move, while the generative audio system responds accordingly through a dynamic soundtrack to the user’s experience.
The 2,235 pixels are distributed in the structure facing inwards to create a wall of colour, but also on the exterior to create an echo of light that mimics what is happening inside.
Every time a new person enters the installation, the intensity of white light gets brighter to dazzle and transport them into a new scene. Sometimes the visitors will be taken into a world of sound and coloured lights and other times will be part of the natural surroundings of the park.
So how does it work? A combination of hardware and software allowed the realisation of this installation. With the use of a Kinect camera, detailed movements of the user were detected as inputs to drive organic particles of light across the structure. Highly responsive light particles were handled by algorithms that managed the complex real-time movement of the user, ensuring a natural and fluid reaction from the 2,235 pixels; every movement or gesture of the body can trigger a light pattern and custom sound.
Standing at four-metres high, each rectangular pole integrates small RGB node of CK Flex LM clear dome, individually controlled and separated 10cm from one another. The dots cover the front face and part of the back to create the perception of pixels floating in the space. The metal studs were distributed radially around a circular platform of five-metres in diameter with a mirror effect finish, generating an infinity space that goes beyond the floor.
The base of the structure is where all the power sources are kept, while a centralised control system and interactive control cabinet are located at the back, along with a wireless connection to control the installation from anywhere. The installation also includes four loudspeakers hidden in the back of the structure to generate a surround system for each scenario.
Pixel Flow has an incredible responsiveness that captures the participants by surprise. The installation is a playful development of physically interactive concepts previously explored by the studio in the interactive aquarium for La Rambla shopping mall, Aurora and Light Garden for Plaza Norte Mall and BCP Affinity.
