{"id":16450,"date":"2017-02-23T16:00:42","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T15:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=16450"},"modified":"2017-02-23T15:01:55","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T14:01:55","slug":"enormous-art-installation-in-boston-uses-a-raspberry-pi-to-control-a-block-of-blinkies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.recantha.co.uk\/blog\/?p=16450","title":{"rendered":"Enormous art installation in Boston uses a Raspberry Pi to control a block of blinkies"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In Boston\u2019s Rose Kennedy Greenway<\/a>, twenty-four sentinels have appeared in a 2001-<\/em>kind of way. They are called Light Blades and overlook the parks of the Wharf District. The lights inside the blades react to text messages sent to a specific number and it’s apparently quite a sight – a space the size of a city block changing colour to your request. This is a public art installation called Color Commons<\/em><\/a> and it is the brainchild of New American Public Art (NAPA)<\/a>, a collection of six artists.<\/p>\n

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The system works by using an SMS server which communicates to a Raspberry Pi<\/strong> at the park. The Pi matches the name of the colour to a list of 950 known colours and then sends commands to the Light Blades. The reaction time of the system is roughly two seconds, which is impressive considering the round-trip the messages make.<\/p>\n

Dan Sternof Beyer, one of the creative directors of NAPA said this of the project:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe art side of it is really thinking about the sociology of the public and thinking about what draws people in, what makes them curious, and what brings out curiosity,\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more about the project here<\/a>,\u00a0see the code for the project here<\/a>\u00a0and see a video of it in action below:
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