LED art
LED Art is form of light art constructed from light-emitting diodes. Many artists that use LEDs are guerrilla artists, incorporating LEDs to produce temporary pieces in public places. LEDs are very inexpensive to purchase and have become a new way to make street art. LEDs are, among others, used in installation art, sculptural pieces and interactive artworks.
Infamous LED Art
In early 2007, there was a bomb scare in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States caused by a guerrilla marketing campaign. An advertising firm working for Turner Broadcasting System Inc. to promote Aqua Teen Hunger Force, one of the networks television shows, hired two artists to produce art for the ad campaign. The artists used a character from the television show (a cartoon) referred to as a Mooninite as their imagery. The Mooninite was turned into an LED sign and was stuck to many locations in 10 cities. However, Boston was the only city that reacted by shutting down bridges and bringing in bomb squads to remove the LEDs. The majority of the light boards were removed and the artists were arrested.[1][2]
Artists incorporating LEDs
- Jenny Holzer - One of the most well known artists who incorporates LEDs into her work. She uses familiar statements and reinterprets them to alter their meanings[3].
- Cell Phone Disco is an installation that uses the electromagnetic spectrum emitted by the viewer’s cell phone and creates a visual interpretation. The LEDs are attached to large grids and when a phone is activated in a section of the room, the lights turn on. They make the invisible environments around us visible[4].
- Kevin McCormick – an artist who incorporated LEDs into large spheres emulating disco balls[5].
- GreenPix – Zero Energy Media Wall – created as an environmentally friendly art space. It acts as a low resolution screen for artists to show their work[6].
- Liu Dao - an art collective in China that uses actors and filmmakers to make animated LED portraits. The group also combines traditional Chinese arts like papercutting with LEDs to highlight China's journey from tradition and modernity, and is directed by Thomas Charvériat to find originality through international collaboration[7].
LED throwies
A LED throwie is a small LED attached to a coin battery and a rare earth magnet (usually with conductive epoxy or electrical tape), used for the purpose of creating non-destructive graffiti and light displays.[8] Artists use them by throwing individual LEDs onto metallic objects, like public sculpture or road infrastructure. By throwing LEDs onto an object, the object itself acts as a canvas.
References
- ^ "Two held after ad campaign triggers Boston bomb scare - CNN.com". CNN.
- ^ "Boston bomb scare - Cartoon Network devices - Turner ad campaign - Boston Globe". The Boston Globe. 2007-07-09.
- ^ http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/holzer/
- ^ http://www.cellphonedisco.org/
- ^ http://sub-zero.mit.edu/fbyte/ledart/
- ^ http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/greenpix_media_wall_simone_giostra_interview.php
- ^ http://www.chinapost.com.tw/art/arts/2010/04/07/251505/p1/The-fantastic.htm
- ^ Graffiti Research Lab. "LED Throwies". Retrieved 2008-01-25.
External links
- LED Throwies Tutorial on making LED Throwies
- LED Throwies blog European blog about LED Throwies
- A tutorial on how to make more advanced LED graffiti: LED tags and figures using perspex and other light leading materials
- Youtube Video of throwies at work
- Graffiti Research Lab