super nature design + won wei: prism1666

‘prism1666’ by super nature design and wonwei

‘prism1666’ is an interactive installation developed by shanghai-based super nature design and hong kong-based wonwei (harald haraldsson). the work is based on sir isaac newton’s famous experimental study conducted in 1666, in which he used a glass prism to deconstruct a white beam of sunlight into a full spectrum of color. from this discovery, newton’s revolutionary theory of optics was born: the white light we see is in fact an amalgamation of different wavelengths. when light passes through prisms, it becomes refracted and diffused into a range of colors.

‘prism1666’ is an artistic tribute to this discovery. it consists of 15 transparent triangular blocks randomly placed on a clean white surface in which colorful graphics are refracted and scattered by these glass blocks, creating vibrant visual performance. distribution of colors and graphic patterns are controlled by changing the level of light frequencies. individuals can participate and interact with the light performance by means of remote-controlling the dispersion via a desktop interface. with the device, one is able to control the wavelengths and angles of incoming light, resulting in a range of abstract light patterns on the display surface.

the technical components of the installation include: 1 – 5000lumens projector with (wide angle lens); 1 – 2000-3000 lumens projector (sanyo PLC-XW1000C); 1 iPad; 1 powermac with 2 graphic port output DVI/VGA; 1 surrounding speaker.

the installation is the winner of the best creative design of the shanghai international science & art award 2011.

fifteen transparent triangular blocks are randomly placed on a clean white surface in which colorful graphics are refracted and dispersed