Vancouver – Unnumbered Sparks is an aerial installation that is floating in the skies of downtown Vancouver, to mark the 30th anniversary of the TED conference at TED2014.
The floating sculpture is a collaboration between artist Janet Echelman who is known for her ethereal mid-air works, and Aaron Koblin, creative director of the Google Data Arts group. The multi-hued billowing textile is made from a 745-feet net embedded with ultra-light fibres. It is powered by Google Chrome, which enables viewers below to control its light patterns using their smartphones.
‘What is not obvious to the public is when you look at the sculpture, you are looking at a web browser,’ says the Google team. ‘The interactive lighting is one giant Chrome window, stretched across the 300-feet long sculpture with the help of five high-definition projectors.’
Unnumbered Sparks shows a hint of Futurist Montage lighting, with the use of neon colours that lend a futuristic wonder.