Firefly (Pteroptyx Malaccae) 1998
The inspiration for this work came about from witnessing for the first time one summers evening, large points of luminous glowing, green light, "dancing" in the night air.
The cause of this phenomenon turned out to be the American Firefly, an insect that uses a chemical reaction within a light-emitting organ on the underside of their abdomens to communicate with each other. Male fireflies flash their signals on and off to attract females while different types of the same species use quite separate and distinct flash codes. This naturally occurring event is the basis for this installation.
General Description
The installation is an interactive, computer controlled environment that initially was designed to utilise lightweight, thin, phosphor-luminescent discs that mimic the chemical reaction as described previously and produce a diffuse but bright green glow unlike other light sources such as incandescent lamps.
The discs themselves utilise a solid state phenomenon known as Electroluminescence in which semiconductor crystals known as phosphors, convert electrical energy directly into light energy. These were later changed to green light emmitting diodes (LEDs) due to their cost effectiveness and still provided the desired results.The installation occurs in almost total darkness with minimum ambient lighting. The LEDs are suspended by fine connecting wires in a matrix arrangement at different random heights and above head level from a supporting wire framework.
Motion from the spectators is used as a "seed" within the controlling computer program to select the starting glow positions of the "Firefly". Based on simple rules which govern how the flashes of light propagate throughout the suspended LEDs (see Technical Description) the results appear as expanding and contracting clusters of continually moving light. Although the suspended LEDs are static the resultant effect is one of a constantly moving and changing form composed of clusters of bright green lights.
The participants are also surrounded by the sounds of beating insect wings which rises and falls in volume and is moved around the installation space in relation to the clusters of lights that are active at any one time.
Installation Description
The installation is flexible enough to suit most gallery spaces, the main structural requirement being four anchor bolts (or other suitable fixing) to support the two main 8mm diameter lengths of galvanised steel rope, stretched accross the installation space, which in turn act as the supports for the matrix of cross-wires.
The LEDs are suspended from the matrix of supply wires and are hung in a configuration within an area determined by the positioning of these wires. The minimum distance between the floor and the lowest level would be approximately 2.5 metres and the highest level would be 3.5 metres within this particular configuration.
Situated at the centres of the upper support wires are four motion detectors which act as the initial input for the interaction between the installation and the participants.The LEDs and sensors are connected to three microcomputers via the appropriate interfaces (see Technical Description) which can be mounted close to the matrix of cross-wires. The microcomputers also control the sound and change the volume and frequency of the sampled sounds. This sound can be regulated between a simple, almost inaudible drone to a loud buzzing.
This sound is distributed around the space via a switching matrix connected to amplifiers and four loudspeakers positioned at the outer edges of the installation space and approximately 2 metres above floor level. (Ideally, suitably sized speakers could also be mounted on the supporting grid enabling the source of the sound to be in close proximity to the LEDs.)
Technical Description
The installation is split into three zones and controlled via three Scorpion microcomputers which monitor any movement within a particular zone of the installation via movement sensors. The computers then use this seeding information within the program to determine the starting position(s) of the initial LED lights which then propagate throughout the matrix of LEDs based on simple governing rules. These rules determine, for example the minimum and maximum range that each "Fire-fly" has when transmitting signals of light and whether that signal "dies" after reaching certain limits or continues to be passed from one "Fire-Fly" to the next.
The LEDs are individually controlled by the microcomputers via a solid state switching matrix, which reduces the number of connections required. The microcomputers also controls the sound required for the installation. This sound is switched via solid state circuitry and output via amplifiers and speakers. The amplitude of the sound is also electronically controlled via the microprocessor so that the volume can be ramped up and down between the speakers to give the effect of the sound moving around the space.