Canada has a graceful new solar sculpture
By Susan Wilson
A new solar sculpture not only gathers its own energy but can be programmed by the community to provide a light show at night. Not bad for a piece of artwork that provide beauty for miles around.
Gorbet Design’s Solar Collector provides Cambridge, Canada with both beauty and fun. The sculpture sits at the Waterloo Regional Operations Center. During the day the sculpture still retains its graceful shape but night is when it really comes to life.
The system consists of a curve of twelve shafts that reflect the sun’s position throughout the year. The tallest shaft points to the sun during the winter solstice and the smallest to the sun during the summer solstice. Because of the configuration, the solar panels on each shaft will collect different amounts of sun during the year.
Each shaft has three solar panels that store energy during the day and three sets of lights that shine during the night. With computer input from the community, the lights provide a varying show of designs against the night sky.
The Solar collector’s website has simple interactive controls that visitors create new light patterns that can become part of that night’s show. Site visitors can vary the wave, speed, flare and scatter of the light show to create a pattern. By entering name and postal code, the visitor’s pattern becomes part of “an ongoing collaborative global series of patterns.”
Each evenings performance consists of two Acts. Act I is 20 sec. show of each pattern submitted that day with solid light separating the patterns. Act II adds in the global series of patterns.A global series takes “all of the patterns ever submitted” and arranges them mathematically so that they flow from one pattern easily into the next.
The light show may repeat several times during the night. It all depends on the amount of sunlight stored during the day. Since each rod of the sculpture collects its own energy, the rods go out one by one until the entire piece is dark.
A webcam function is not yet available. When it comes on line, it should allowing viewing the night show from anywhere.
Light has been used in creating art for years, but only recently have the art pieces been interactive and cheap to run.
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