Designed by the San Francisco-based experimental architecture firm Future Cities Lab, Lightswarm, a stunning and dazzling wall installation of 430 individual modules employs sensors and LED lights to create a light show in a state of perpetual flux.
Responding to sounds harvested from YBCA’s interior space and the Yerba Buena Garden and nearby city street noise, this site-specific artwork activates the south facing glass façade of the Grand Lobby with playful patterns of light reminiscent of a swarm of flying birds.
During the day, filtered sunlight produces ever-changing flickers of light and shadow, while in the evening the façade is transformed into a dynamic electro-luminescent composition that electrifies the glass wall. Sound sensing spiders, attached directly to individual glass panels in the Grand Lobby, transform the façade into what the artists call “urban sensors—instruments to sense the city, visualize its auditory pulse, and amplify its latent energies into cascades of light.” Real-time data collected from these audio sensors drive the direction and color of the swarming algorithm, which generates patterns of streaming light. The result is an artificially intelligent façade: a smart surface that can sense, compute, respond, and interact with its surroundings.
Lightswarm’s unique suspended light modules individually change their intensity and color. Each module was created from 3D printed components, custom electronic elements, addressable LED strips, and laser-cut skins made out of recyclable PET plastic and synthetic paper. This work is an exemplary display of Future Cities Lab’s interest in liminal spaces and location, as the glass wall allows for multiple views and perspectives on this ever-changing installation.
Artist: Future Cities Lab, San Francisco
Project Team: Jason Kelly Johnson, Nataly Gattegno, Ripon DeLeon
Production: Fernando Amenedo, Jeffrey Maeshiro, Ji Ahn, Nainoa Cravalho, Kate Richter
Fabrication: Machinic Digital Prototyping & Consulting Services, San Francisco
YBCA: Betti-Sue Hertz, curator; John Foster Cartwright, lead preparator / media specialist
show less
Responding to sounds harvested from YBCA’s interior space and the Yerba Buena Garden and nearby city street noise, this site-specific artwork activates the south facing glass façade of the Grand Lobby with playful patterns of light reminiscent of a swarm of flying birds.
During the day, filtered sunlight produces ever-changing flickers of light and shadow, while in the evening the façade is transformed into a dynamic electro-luminescent composition that electrifies the glass wall. Sound sensing spiders, attached directly to individual glass panels in the Grand Lobby, transform the façade into what the artists call “urban sensors—instruments to sense the city, visualize its auditory pulse, and amplify its latent energies into cascades of light.” Real-time data collected from these audio sensors drive the direction and color of the swarming algorithm, which generates patterns of streaming light. The result is an artificially intelligent façade: a smart surface that can sense, compute, respond, and interact with its surroundings.
Lightswarm’s unique suspended light modules individually change their intensity and color. Each module was created from 3D printed components, custom electronic elements, addressable LED strips, and laser-cut skins made out of recyclable PET plastic and synthetic paper. This work is an exemplary display of Future Cities Lab’s interest in liminal spaces and location, as the glass wall allows for multiple views and perspectives on this ever-changing installation.
Artist: Future Cities Lab, San Francisco
Project Team: Jason Kelly Johnson, Nataly Gattegno, Ripon DeLeon
Production: Fernando Amenedo, Jeffrey Maeshiro, Ji Ahn, Nainoa Cravalho, Kate Richter
Fabrication: Machinic Digital Prototyping & Consulting Services, San Francisco
YBCA: Betti-Sue Hertz, curator; John Foster Cartwright, lead preparator / media specialist
Designed by the San Francisco-based experimental architecture firm Future Cities Lab, Lightswarm, a stunning and dazzling wall installation of 430 individual modules employs sensors and LED lights to create a light show in a state of perpetual flux.
Responding to sounds harvested from YBCA’s interior space and the Yerba Buena Garden and nearby city street noise, this site-specific artwork activates the south facing glass façade of the Grand Lobby with playful patterns of light reminiscent of a swarm of flying birds.
During the day, filtered sunlight produces ever-changing flickers of light and shadow, while in the evening the façade is transformed into a dynamic electro-luminescent composition that electrifies the glass wall. Sound sensing spiders, attached directly to individual glass panels in the Grand Lobby, transform the façade into what the artists call “urban sensors—instruments to sense the city, visualize its auditory pulse, and amplify its latent energies into cascades of light.” Real-time data collected from these audio sensors drive the direction and color of the swarming algorithm, which generates patterns of streaming light. The result is an artificially intelligent façade: a smart surface that can sense, compute, respond, and interact with its surroundings.
Lightswarm’s unique suspended light modules individually change their intensity and color. Each module was created from 3D printed components, custom electronic elements, addressable LED strips, and laser-cut skins made out of recyclable PET plastic and synthetic paper. This work is an exemplary display of Future Cities Lab’s interest in liminal spaces and location, as the glass wall allows for multiple views and perspectives on this ever-changing installation.
Artist: Future Cities Lab, San Francisco
Project Team: Jason Kelly Johnson, Nataly Gattegno, Ripon DeLeon
Production: Fernando Amenedo, Jeffrey Maeshiro, Ji Ahn, Nainoa Cravalho, Kate Richter
Fabrication: Machinic Digital Prototyping & Consulting Services, San Francisco
YBCA: Betti-Sue Hertz, curator; John Foster Cartwright, lead preparator / media specialist
read more
Responding to sounds harvested from YBCA’s interior space and the Yerba Buena Garden and nearby city street noise, this site-specific artwork activates the south facing glass façade of the Grand Lobby with playful patterns of light reminiscent of a swarm of flying birds.
During the day, filtered sunlight produces ever-changing flickers of light and shadow, while in the evening the façade is transformed into a dynamic electro-luminescent composition that electrifies the glass wall. Sound sensing spiders, attached directly to individual glass panels in the Grand Lobby, transform the façade into what the artists call “urban sensors—instruments to sense the city, visualize its auditory pulse, and amplify its latent energies into cascades of light.” Real-time data collected from these audio sensors drive the direction and color of the swarming algorithm, which generates patterns of streaming light. The result is an artificially intelligent façade: a smart surface that can sense, compute, respond, and interact with its surroundings.
Lightswarm’s unique suspended light modules individually change their intensity and color. Each module was created from 3D printed components, custom electronic elements, addressable LED strips, and laser-cut skins made out of recyclable PET plastic and synthetic paper. This work is an exemplary display of Future Cities Lab’s interest in liminal spaces and location, as the glass wall allows for multiple views and perspectives on this ever-changing installation.
Artist: Future Cities Lab, San Francisco
Project Team: Jason Kelly Johnson, Nataly Gattegno, Ripon DeLeon
Production: Fernando Amenedo, Jeffrey Maeshiro, Ji Ahn, Nainoa Cravalho, Kate Richter
Fabrication: Machinic Digital Prototyping & Consulting Services, San Francisco
YBCA: Betti-Sue Hertz, curator; John Foster Cartwright, lead preparator / media specialist
show less
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Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA)
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701 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
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