After experimenting with the expensive torch with used Namak's cheap torch from Robert Dyers which has a 3 LEDs in the head which gave a really nice effect of the light shape we normally get but three over lapping each other.
This image shows an LED that we brought attached to a volt changer power supply secured together with a bit of electrical tape.
After experimenting with the LED torch that we brought online we came to the conclusion that we much preferred the results given from the iphone 4 LED flash light, so we jumped in the van and drove down to Maplins to investigate the kind of LED we were after. After talking with an employee from Maplins we walked away with 3 LEDs at 3mm & 5mm super bright and a 5mm bright blue LED. We had also discussed about using a power supply to power our light source rather than batteries and if we could get cables for the power supply that were discreet as possible and in keeping with the minimal feel of our artwork.
We thought about how our instillation would be viewed at kenetica and how we would ideally like the audience to be able to walk around the piece and view it from above. We soon realised that if people were walking by they could quite possibly miss the amazing effects we were displaying as the organza was as high as the 2.7m high and if we were to have the material hang at a 45 degree the audience would from afar see the effect and still from all sides and above. The material then came back to looking more like a sail, which we then toiled with the idea of introducing ind power in again to play on the theme of turbulence that was first set out by the UKRC group.
We experimented with the artwork projecting horizontally onto a wall or surface and also with silk organza as a surface for our light to reflect onto, the effects were mesmerising but something always Drew us back to projecting upwards onto the celling giving us the easiest to control results, but as we would be exhibiting our artworks in an exhibition space where we would have problems projecting upwards due to light conditions and/or having to block in our space which would totally contradict the feel and effect we were hoping for. So we set out find other ways in which we could still continue to project upwards in the environments we would be facing.
We experimented by suspending the silk organza from the celling from each of its corners and created a hanging mechanism that would allow us to suspend the torch from the celling without it interfering with the silk. We managed this and placed the parabolic mirror directly on the floor below. The effects where great the organza displayed the reflection upon its surface but also allowed the light to pass through it onto the celling above. One thing we did discuss that as we would like to project up it would also be nice for the visitors to the exhibition to be able to see the artwork from the galleries above and this silk organza did exactly that. We left the doors of are basement room open and the light on in the room next door to us to give an ambient light exposure that we might get at Kenetica.
