GLOW 2023

Student team Ignite presented two enchanting light artworks at GLOW Festival 2023

GLOWBLE AND PAPER TRAILS

In 2023 the Art & Tech team IGNITE was participating in the GLOW Light Art Festival in Eindhoven. This time, the student team was involved in two projects. There were the seventy luminous "paper airplanes" from the Paper Trails project, which, like last year, guided visitors along the way. The students also presented a brand new artwork called GLOWBLE: a gigantic luminous sphere that reacts to movements and sounds in its surroundings. Around 30 projects were on display from November 11th to 18th in the center of Eindhoven. 

GLOWBLE

Is it a smaller version of The Sphere in Las Vegas? A luminous, large bouncy ball? Or is it a little moon? Whatever it is, it is certainly enchanting. In the Anne Frank park, GLOWBLE, a massive luminous sphere measuring 3.5 meters in diameter, was on display, and it was conceived by student team IGNITE, which has been participating in the Eindhoven light festival GLOW for years. 

The structure of GLOWBLE is more than just a source of light. The colors and patterns dance on the sphere because the artwork reacts to movements and sounds in the environment, such as those made by the visitors. This is made possible through acoustic cameras that detect sound and translate it into something visible, in this case, the sphere's colors. GLOWBLE responds not only to the sound level but also to the pitch. Team IGNITE collaborated with the Eindhoven-based company Sorama, founded by TU/e alumnus Rick Scholte, to make this possible. 

 

Acoustic cameras from Sorama respond to the audience

"Digitalization can contribute to more remote interaction. We want to use technology in a different way, namely to bring people together," says Teun van Roosmalen, a designer within the team. "It's inspiring to see what happens when visitors stop at the artwork and work together to make GLOWBLE shine." 

The team worked on GLOWBLE for fourteen months. The sphere, weighing around 500 kilograms, features 1200 LED spots. Interestingly, these spots were previously used to illuminate the chimney of the Ketelhuis on the TU/e campus. 

PAPER TRAILS

Team IGNITE was found in another location along the GLOW route with a light project. More than 70 luminous "paper airplanes" hovered in the air and over the Dommel River near the Van Abbemuseum. They guide visitors. 

The journey of these Paper Trails began a year ago during GLOW 2022 and has been developed since then. Those who arrived at Eindhoven Airport last year could also see the paper airplanes there, where they were used to send visitors in the right direction.