A solar-powered, web-connected, interactive sculpture. Angled shafts combine solar energy and online expression to create a performance in light each night. A collaboration between the community and the sun.
Type and Geometry: 12 6”x6” aluminium shafts, angles and length determined by solar geometry Lighting: LED lighting, independently controlled Behavior: Synchronized sine-wave patterns generated online by visitors to the sculpture’s website:www.solarcollector.ca Urban Situation: Part of government complex in industrial area, part of fast-growing regional municipality. In an industrial setting, twelve aluminum shafts rise at surprising angles from a grassy hill. They hang over the landscape, a graceful curve that unfolds for passing motorists. Each shaft holds three solar panels and three sets of lights. The panels collect the sun's energy into batteries within each shaft. While they charge, Solar Collector also gathers human expression. Using a simple online tool, people create light compositions to become part of a nightly performance. At dusk, a performance begins of all the compositions collected that day: quick, flashing pulses; slow flowing waves… the submitted patterns link together to create each evening's show. The shaft angles make visible the graceful geometry of solar energy, reflecting the sun’s angles through the year. The longest shaft faces the low sun at winter solstice, the shortest faces the high sun in summer. Wielding the sun's energy, participants combine the power of nature and the potential of technology in inspired expressions of global belonging and concern, reaching halfway around the world and create a pattern to flash across the Canadian sky.
