Infinity of Three
Exhibited at La Grosse Lanterne and Upfest, this installation was a collaboration with the Provides. collective. It is a 9x9 grid of mirrors, 50⁄50 mirrors, and LED infinity mirrors. The infinity mirrors are fascinating in their own right, but the entire structure is arranged in an arc so that multiple reflections are generated as light reflects from different faces of the grid. Think infinity mirrors inside an infinity mirror. Moreover, the 50⁄50 mirrors allow an outside observer to enjoy a kaleidoscopic effect when standing outside of it.
Each infinity mirror contains 60 individually addressable LEDs. The LEDs are driven by a laptop via two Fadecandy breakout boards. Pushbuttons on the centre console allow particpants to switch between different operational modes. So far, some of the modes have included: preset patterns using GL shaders, sound reactivity, and live video capture. An original idea was to use a camera to capture images from a plasma globe mounted on the console, and then use these video frames to render patterns on the LEDs. Unfortunately, it was discovered that the magnetic fields generated by the plasma globe caused excessive interference with the pushbuttons. A future design will improve the robustness to allow this unique mode of interactivity to be realized.