Artists Statement

The installation consists of a steel wire structure that is suspended horizontally and under tension across an exhibition space. To this structure, 256 LED’s are simply clipped into place, forming a grid. A waxed paper drinking cup acts as a diffuser for the LED’s, and turns each light into a little lamp. Each LED is powered from the grid, whilst one single wire cascades down to the floor where it meets the controller board. A computer reads the information coming from the windmills, calculates and then instructs the controller board to switch each light on or off. The lights suspended in space will fade up and down in fluid movement depending upon the speed of the windmill. A small blow will be transformed into a static image onto the grid, whilst a stronger blow will cause a faster more dynamic movement of light and sound. The work materialises a light weight, three dimensional, transparent, floating screen. The screen, usually considered as virtual and contained within an object, here becomes part of the physical world and is embedded within the architectural space. By blowing on one of the paper windmills, the spectator triggers a movement of light and sound. The installation breathes, and this notion is embodied in the gesture of the spectator, the interface, the response of the installation and its effect on the space itself. When interacting with the installation the spectator becomes both audience and performer, both watching the installation and controlling it hom under the spotlight.

•  Helen Evans & Heiko Hansen run the collective HeHe.org based in Paris. HEHE.ORG overall aim is to reveal and sculpture interactive qualities in digital systems. Our backgrounds are in Theatre Design and Industrial Design respectively and we both completed the MA Computer Related Design at the Royal College of Art in London (1999). Since then, we have been working within research institutes and on interactive public art installations that have been exhibited and awarded at various venues across Europe. Our work draws on a range of materials, languages and techniques – including electronics, software programming and spatial environment design -as part of an exploration into performance, movement and programmed choreography. HeHe.org