3 Kinds of Urban Light Art: From Dorm Room Tetris to Architectural Light Graffiti

Dorm Room Tetris

Architectural light graffiti comes in many forms that all share one common feature: the effects are there one second and gone the next. The only record of these curious performance arts comes in the form of photographs and videos. Here’s a look at three types of urban light art: dorm room tetris, lightstick air animation and architectural projection bombing.

Tampere, Finland: Adjacent to the Nokia research Center in Europe, Mikontalo is the largest student dormitory in the Nordic countries. People from the Finnish Student Union and Universimo gaming company decided to play some tetris using the apartment lights and windows of the building, controlled by remote! This is a somewhat more sophisticated approach than the low-tech Russian version (first video above) in which time-lapse photography is employed and students manually switched on and off the lights!

Glowstick Air Graffiti

Cute Glowstick Creature

Koln, Germany: Lichtfaktor uses their light to expressive their creative impulses. Late at night, they document their exploits via photography and film, writing and drawing light graffiti. What start as simple air drawing has since developed into an interest in complex forms and visual collages. They continue to evolve their art and experiment with new forms of light animation.

Architectural Light Graffiti

Creative Digital Projection Bombing

New York City, USA: Outdoor digital projection in urban environments is a great method for getting your content up big before the eyes and in the minds of your fellow city inhabitants. Digital projection bombing is a leave-no-trace activity much like the bizarrely creative practice of reverse graffiti, but other forms of light graffiti also exist including battery-powered LED throwies.

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Posted by Urbanist December 6th, 2007
Graffiti, Guerilla Action, Urban, Urban Art, Urban Images, Urban Videos, Various
Comments: 18

Comments

Comment from shane walter
Time: December 7, 2007, 2:36 am

you should check out the original blinkenlights - first aware of this many years ago - born out of a local german computer club: http://www.blinkenlights.de/ berlin based. you canc check many videos on youtube here is one with a short glimpse into Blinkenlights Backstage. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFacSJBCql0

Comment from shane walter
Time: December 7, 2007, 7:15 am

also check out this nice xmas tree in madrid. http://technabob.com/blog/2007/12/05/pac-man-christmas-tree-hits-madrid/

Comment from MySpace Text
Time: December 7, 2007, 1:20 pm

Very unique art… very. I love the lights!

Comment from Kayla
Time: December 7, 2007, 4:54 pm

I really liked the music used in these video. Do you happen to know any of the music artists?

Comment from Anonymous
Time: December 8, 2007, 9:55 am

http://www.flickr.com/photos/beantown/2066067539/

Comment from giL
Time: December 9, 2007, 10:08 am

Windows illumination projects have always fascinated me. Did you know in the late 1980s a Japanese architect named Non Ishida came up with the idea of grid like picture logic puzzles while working on a geometric pattern windows illumination project on a high-rise building in Tokyo? Today this type of puzzle, aka paint-by-numbers, hanjie, pic-a-pix and other names, is enjoyed by many folks in both Japan and the West. Some illumination project it was, ha?

Comment from TechDune
Time: December 9, 2007, 9:46 pm

I am impresed by these lights ..I like the light shows on the India Gate.

Comment from Bacoon
Time: December 10, 2007, 9:51 pm

You should check out illum on flickr (in the Light Art pool). These guys from the US developing their skills it seems to a great level.

They, along with lichtfaktor and biwerw (expose), look to be composing and capturing some awesome shots.

Comment from Marisa
Time: December 15, 2007, 9:57 am

Beautiful.. Loooove them.
As a matter of fact, I have a friend working with light arts..
Check his pix here:
http://discomfort.multiply.com/photos/album/6/Biosampler_SubSpace_and_Other_Haluciogenics

Comment from aaron
Time: December 19, 2007, 11:54 am

Aphex Twin is music from one vid