SEI06
INTERACTIVE LIGHT INSTALLATION
CREDIT
MATEIRAL
SIZE
Concept & Design: CHIKA
LEDs, DMX control, custom software, electronics, computer, Leap Motion sensor
7 x 7 x 20 ft
CONCEPTSEI (pronounced "say") takes its name from a Japanese sound shared by words meaning star (星), silence (静), and life (生).
SEI06 brings these meanings together. Its stacked triangles suggest both stars and a prism. A prism bends white light, and because each wavelength bends at a slightly different angle, the light separates into the colors of the rainbow, an effect called dispersion.
When no one is near, the work rests in silence, revealing the full spectrum as a prism does, glowing steadily in all seven colors. When a visitor swipes a hand over the sensor, it comes to life, and the colors begin to move; each swipe sets a new pattern of color in motion. The piece turns the science of light into play: visitors of all ages learn how light and color work through their own hands.
The sixth work in the SEI series, it was conceived together with the MI project. It was first developed in 2022 during the Paseo Project artist residency in Taos, New Mexico, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, and was commissioned by the New York Hall of Science, where CHIKA was a Designer-in-Residence. It is a semi-permanent installation in the museum's historic Great Hall, built for the 1964–65 World's Fair, whose deep blue glass walls were designed to evoke outer space, a fitting home for a work named for the stars.
Technical support from MadMapper and GarageCube.
EXHIBITION
2023
RESIDENCY
2020-23
2022
GRAND
2022
SUPPORT
2020-23
