Maxwell's Dream: Paint with Light
From MIT's FAST Light Event. Maxwell's Dream: Painting with Light, by Kaustuv De Biswas and Daniel Rosenberg, graduate students in Architecture
Location: Infinite Corridor Community Lounge (Building 10)
Installed: May 3-June 4, 2011
An art installation that allows observers to play with a magnetic field to create patterns in light. The installation consists of magnetic handles mounted on a translucent wall and connected with light sources behind the wall. By touching or rotating the handles, visitors can change the intensity of color and perturb the magnetic fields in ways that allow them to 'paint' with light.
The visitors become part of the equation, constantly negotiating with an environment that wants to return to a luminous equilibrium. This installation is essentially a cybernetic loop, with the system (magnetic field) and human actions feeding back and affecting each other in a visually expressive and playful manner.
