In a very fitting tribute to TED’s 30th anniversary celebration in Vancouver, Canada, artists Janet Echelman and Google’s Creative Director Aaron Koblin collaborated to create Unnumbered Sparks. This is an enormous textured sky sculpture, 745 feet long hoisted between two buildings that allow participants to paint the sky via a mobile phone app. At night, the sculpture lights up and becomes a crowd-sourced artwork that looks like a giant floating cloud overhead. It’s one of the most unique applications of mobile technology and art in a public space ever seen, and only runs through March 22.
The artist Echelman is known for her giant nature sculptures including light, air, wind, and water. The canvas is made of ultralight fibers that allow it to look like it’s floating above the viewer’s down below in the city. Using one’s mobile app for the project, you can create the effects of moving colored ripples which when combined with other observers, creates a surreal image of a giant floating spaceship or night sky.
The light is caught by an interactive giant Chrome window highlighted with projectors. Once a viewer opens their app, they can user their fingers to move their chosen color across the sculpture’s surface above.
The idea is to combine mobile phone technology and art and the powerful connection between the viewer and sculpture towards creating something new.
Happy Anniversary TED!
