Ars Electronica Center Facade. Making the invisible visible — when technology meets art.

Ars Electronica Center in Linz is known as the ‘Museum of the Future”. The main mission of this institution is to facilitate the general public’s encounter with new media and virtual reality using interactive forms of expression. Lighting facades are one of the most impressive tools that can express artistic spirit in a modern way.

The challenge

Concise’s challenge was to help with the depiction of artistic and socially relevant content in a public area on a building facade, in contrast to the predominantly commercial use of such displays.

It was to be an amazing spectacle of light — a delightful illumination appearing on the walls of the “Museum of the Future.” This was going to be the largest lighting facade of its kind in Europe, which would also reduce energy costs as well as lower the expenses for repairs and maintenance yield.

All of this, while being an interactive means of artistic expression at the same time. The main idea was simple — to turn 5,100-square-meters of glass skin on the building into an interactive visual show starring light, and to showcase other possible uses for public areas in smart cities.

Ars Electronica Center at glance

Ars Electronica Center in Linz is known as the ‘Museum of the Future”. The main mission of this institution is to facilitate the general public’s encounter with new media and virtual reality using interactive forms of expression. Lighting facades are one of the most impressive tools that can express artistic spirit in a modern way.

The result

The lighting facade of the Ars Electronica Center during the Ars Electronica Festival was the largest LED lighting facade installation in Europe, composed of 1,100 LED strips. Each of them can be controlled via an electronic unit; a solution which makes it possible to individually tune colours and brightness of lights. Many artists were invited to use the 40,000 LED lights for their artistic experiments.

This project needed a specific development environment, created to simplify the creative process by using commonly available tools. Like a free application, it is easy to use for an artist, controlled straight from their own computer.

What the audience sees on the screen is an interactive series of 0s and 1s that constantly undergoes reordering, breaking down and reassembling into new formations once again.

Originally published at concisesoftware.com.