Matthew Belanger
new media artist
Lumens
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A project of Networked Realities: (Re)Connecting the Adamses, Lumens was an installation of lamps networked across three spaces. Scores of personal lamps, which usually inhabit and illuminate the interiors of homes, were borrowed from the residents of Adams and North Adams, Massachusetts, filling two gallery spaces: Greylock Arts in Adams and MCLA Gallery 51 Annex in North Adams. In addition, their images and stories are represented on Turbulence, which also served to connect the two locations telematically.
Clusters of lamps were outfitted with proximity sensors and Arduino microcontrollers. Lamps would illuminate in response to a visitor's presence and simultaneously illuminate lamps in the counterpart spaces. Thus, an individual in Adams could communicate his/her presence to those in North Adams, and vice versa. Additionally, as visitors investigated the history of a particular lamp online it would also illuminate in the physical gallery space.
Lumens reconnects North Adams and Adams, originally a single community, through an exploration of location, influence, history, and the present.
The project has been documented with photos, video, code samples, and electronics examples at the blog: Building Lumens.
Lumens was produced with artists Ven Voisey and Sean Riley. Special thanks to Larry Alice, Michael Chapman, Jess Conzo, Jo Edmondson, Erin Dougherty, Jo-Anne Green, Abbi Hermosa, Tom Igoe, Marianne R. Petit, John Schimmel, Jonathan Secor, Helen Thorington and the generous people of Adams and North Adams, Massachusetts.
Lumens was installed in 2008. Networked Realities: (Re)Connecting the Adamses was a collaboration of Greylock Arts, MCLA Gallery 51, and Turbulence. Lumens was made possible through the generous support of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. with funding from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the LEF Foundation, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Lumens was also part of DownStreetArt, a public art project designed to revitalize downtown North Adams.
See the project's online space at: turbulence.org/works/newadams/lumens
Press
The Boston Globe | Cate McQuaid | Capturing the overlooked
Boing Boing | Douglas Rushkoff | Lamps Everywhere
WAMC Northeast Public Radio | Carrie Saldo | North Adams looks to art for foot traffic and cash
iBerkshires | Jen Thomas | Lights, Stories to Link City and Town
Clusters of lamps were outfitted with proximity sensors and Arduino microcontrollers. Lamps would illuminate in response to a visitor's presence and simultaneously illuminate lamps in the counterpart spaces. Thus, an individual in Adams could communicate his/her presence to those in North Adams, and vice versa. Additionally, as visitors investigated the history of a particular lamp online it would also illuminate in the physical gallery space.
Lumens reconnects North Adams and Adams, originally a single community, through an exploration of location, influence, history, and the present.
The project has been documented with photos, video, code samples, and electronics examples at the blog: Building Lumens.
Lumens was produced with artists Ven Voisey and Sean Riley. Special thanks to Larry Alice, Michael Chapman, Jess Conzo, Jo Edmondson, Erin Dougherty, Jo-Anne Green, Abbi Hermosa, Tom Igoe, Marianne R. Petit, John Schimmel, Jonathan Secor, Helen Thorington and the generous people of Adams and North Adams, Massachusetts.
Lumens was installed in 2008. Networked Realities: (Re)Connecting the Adamses was a collaboration of Greylock Arts, MCLA Gallery 51, and Turbulence. Lumens was made possible through the generous support of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. with funding from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the LEF Foundation, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Lumens was also part of DownStreetArt, a public art project designed to revitalize downtown North Adams.
See the project's online space at: turbulence.org/works/newadams/lumens
Press
The Boston Globe | Cate McQuaid | Capturing the overlooked
Boing Boing | Douglas Rushkoff | Lamps Everywhere
WAMC Northeast Public Radio | Carrie Saldo | North Adams looks to art for foot traffic and cash
iBerkshires | Jen Thomas | Lights, Stories to Link City and Town
This work by Matthew Belanger is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.