Using spectrometers, we measured the colour spectrum embedded in the natural light of Antarctica and the artificial light pollution found in Hong Kong over periods as long as five hours. Various locations in Antarctica where no artificial light exists were measured as well as the Tsim Sha Tsui district of Hong Kong on a weekday evening—literally the most light-polluted place and time on the planet. The wavelength data of light entering the earth’s atmosphere and the light generated by man found in each of the two datasets was visualised in 3D using procedural animation, mapped over time and converted into a thinking particle simulation.
Using a 360-degree display and 3D optical technologies, the artwork compares the spectral data of Hong Kong, heavily polluted by artificial light, and the purely natural spectral data from Antarctica. Using the metaphor of the Aurora Australis, the southern lights, the data is interpreted, mapped over time, and presented to viewers by enveloping them in the colours hidden in different types of light.
Time: December 2013
Team: Mubarak Marafa, Anantika Mehra
My Role: Concept, Design, and Visualisation
Context
Students travelled to Antarctica to collect scientific data to then create art works from.
Technology
For the data collection we used an Arduino based specrometer called the Spectuino to gather ambient light data in both Hong Kong and Antarctica. We then used python to sort through this data and organise it so it was readable to the Open source 3D software called Blender3D. Blender read through this data and used it to drive the animation. We then rendered it out and used a 360 degree projection system to display the visualisation.
Obstacles
This project was a huge learning opportunity because it was the first time I had learned to code in Python. I had used Blender 3D before for other projects but this was the first time I was using python to do data analysis to translate the data I had and used it to drive the animation
