Open Air is new interactive light experience created by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer “to open up a new public space for Philadelphians to express themselves in.” Using a free mobile app developed by Lozano-Hemmer's studio, participants are invited to record and submit messages of up to 30 seconds in shout-outs, poems, songs, rants dedications and proposals. In response 24 powerful robotic searchlights stationed along a half-mile section of Benjamin Franklin Parkway create a dynamic light formation in the sky. The lights respond in brightness and position to the GPS location of participants and the frequency and amplitude of their voice recordings. All participants receive a personalised webpage created automatically with their message and images of the light sculpture that their voice created.
Image: Rafael Lozano-Hemmers' Open Air, staged with the Association for Art in Philadelphia