Didn’t your mother tell you not to play in the street? Well, from October 29th to November 1st, three locations in the UK; Gateshead, Sunderland and Middlesbrough will be breaking the rules and taking over streets for some accessible and enlightening fun in the evenings after 5:30pm.

Media artists KMA will use projected light and thermal-imaging technology that, according to to the Great Street Games website, will “create jaw-dropping interactive arenas in which the physical movements of players determine the outcome of the games.” But not only are the games linked to the interactivity of the users, but they will be linked between the three cities as well through the real-time games.

KMA has created some other interesting, interactives works including the kinetic light installation titled “Waves” from February of this year. From KMA: “Projected into the street with no visible infrastructure in sight, it uses the heat of passers-by to allow them to interact with a projected environment that simulates physical interactions whilst encouraging playful interactions. Waves was commissioned by DanceDigital as part of their launch as the leading agency for dance and technology in the UK.”

images via KMA

“Waves uses the mathematics of electromagnetism, gravity and Newtonian physics to visualise simulated environments, in which the audience become key elements: a magnet in a field of iron filings, a disturbance in a viscous fluid, a foreign force in an ordered world of microscopic particles. By exploring how their own bodies interact with this space, the forces they bring to this simulated world will also begin to affect the movement of other participants, and a collective visual and physical exploration is created in an unexpected environment.”

White Nights festivals are all-night parties that take place between the end of summer and beginning of autumn. Traditionally, White Nights take place in cities near the Arctic Circle during the summer solstice where there are several days without darkness and many bright cities would hold events around the clock in celebration. Other cities have been inspired by the spirit of a round-the-clock festival such as Rome, Amsterdam, Madrid, Paris and Montreal to name a few and now there is even an entire European circuit of festivals. While the cities in Europe don’t experience a true white night, the spirit of the festival is alive and the idea of bringing out residents and visitors alike to explore the art, music and theater within the car-free city centers under the glow of the moonlight is enchanting.

In Madrid, one of the larger festival desinations, La Noche En Blanco 2009 itself was even split up into its own circuits; the Music Circuit, the Visual Arts Circuit, the Performing Arts Circuit and the Film Circuit. This makes for an overwhelming amount of events to entertain the public all the way through the night until 6am.

With lots of interesting events, I wanted to point out “Verde” by the fabulous Luzinterruptus. This was one of two installations that ran all night, this one including 1,000 street lamp posts covered by green living room shades that ran all through the center of Madrid. The soft green lighting transformed the atmosphere into a comfortable, warm and homey space.

The massive transformation from the typical vehicular buzz of the major city center streets to the intimate pedestrian ways encouraged people to stroll and enjoy the surrounding art and music. This installation just goes to show how lighting can make a dramatic difference in any space.

images via luzinterruptus

…Is what I would say to the girl in red who looks a little suspicious of the black tubing hanging over her. This particular piece is part of a temporary installation in Berlin, Germany in the Info Art & Furniture Gallery by Sebastien Wierinick, Belgian designer who creates furniture out of interesting materials and sculptural forms for interior spaces and public seating as well as temporary artistic installations.

OnSite Studio “characterises itself materially by the use of industrial flexible tubes, formally by its fluid and organic forms and conceptually by a variable design and production process. Using the principles of ‘programmation’, the system offers a huge range of applications in term of typology, function and scale. The studio can thus respond to most demands, by an appropriate and individual proposition.” via their website.

The images above and below are of a bench in the restaurant Tokyo Eat of the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, France. I love the way the flexible tubing wraps up and around to form some nice tush-sized spaces and arm and back rests. It seems very well molded to the human body.

Next is an interesting integrated bench and reception desk in Lyon, France. The long fleixible tubing creates one long form that is molded and warped in opposite and complimentary directions.

This temporary installation in Brussels, Belgium features red variation on the black bench. Somehow it seems less threatening and alien-like in red. It takes on a wave-like pattern that flows up and down and side to side to form benches that face in both directions and different molded shapes. I love the different spaces the bench creates for different sized groups.

imagse via contemporist

Luzinterruptus, a group from Madrid, Spain who performs outdoor interventions through the use of light, feels that the city is looking less and less green with the ripping out of trees to make way for improvements. They feel the city looks as though it is dying. It becomes more and more gray as large expanses of concrete grow within the public realm and existing trees that were removed are not replaced or transplanted upon construction completion.

To bring a little color back to the street, they staged an action they called “Injertos de Luz Verde” or “Green Light Grafts”. They chose a deciduous tree in which to hang plants and lights on a popular night for the youth of Madrid. These bright additions brought life to the street well into the morning

The colored green bags reminded me of an exhibition at the 2008 Venice Biannale, an architecture exhibition in Venice title Out There: Beyond Building. Part of the exhibition had pavilions from various countries which held a common message important to the country and current projects. The German pavilion chose to focus on climate change, consumption and environmental destruction. Fifty stunted apple trees were shocased ripe with apples and drip-fed with colored green dye as if the trees are now only able to survive on artifial life support that keeps the green flowing.

I didn’t know where I was or how I had arrived. The room was hazy and a musty smell filled the air as if no one had set foot in this place for years. It was mostly dark except for a dim glow slipping out from under an old wooden door at the other side. I wondered what the room had been like and who had worked here. Most of the furniture had been removed except for a few scattered chairs and some large objects I couldn’t quite make out.

Perhaps there would be someone in the other room. I walked over and opened the door, not sure what to expect. The room was bathed in a yellow glow and it was deserted. Old office furniter was strewn about haphazardly…desks, chairs, file cabinets…all unused and covered in dust. There were some lights hanging from the ceiling and a couple desk lamps, all of which were on. For some reason I felt compelled to touch one just a few feet in front of me. It was an exposed bulb just hanging from the ceiling with a tattered black chord.

As soon as my finger touched the glass, it stuck for a moment and then when I pulled it away it was as though I had unplugged a whole. Molten glass oozed out and slowly poured out down onto the desk, flowing freely over the surface and down the side, filling up the drawers. It was beautiful. I went around and touched all the others, setting them free. The room overflowed with glowing glass as it dripped down old cabinets and chairs.

This was a dream I had some time ago, so you can imagine my surprise when I looked at Dezeen and found the images of an exhibit in Milan by Dutch designer Pieke Bergmans who seems to have brought my dream to reality! The lighting pieces are part of her Design Virus series and are made of hand-blown bulbs containing LEDs. The designer described them as being infected…“These symptoms are unique, their phenomena unpredictable. The Light Blubs accepting their fate and the pull of gravity.”

images via Dezeen

image via Lisa Town

The Solar Tree contains 10 solar lamps decorating the branches which contain 35 solar cells each, as well as rechargeable batteries and electronic systems. A sensor measures the amount of light which then triggers the LED light systems to automatically turn on at sunset and off and sunrise.

image via Lisa Town

In looking less at the entire tree and more at it’s parts, the Invisible Streetlight by Jongoh Lee is inspired by the use of solar energy in the traditional process of photosynthesis in plants, focusing mostly on the leaves. The light replicates a branch with leaves that capture solar energy during the day and then use that energy to create light during the evening hours.

Invisible Streetlight imagse via Coroflot

The “branch” is flexible, allowing it to wrap around a real branch on a street tree and become a part of the tree with no extra support or chords. This also make installation simple and easy. But of course my question here is…what keeps people from stealing these lights from our public streets?

But what is so revolutionary with the Invisible Streetlight is that unlike conventional solar cells which require some form of secondary device to store power, such as a battery, here the energy is stored in the nano wire battery which allows for the thin structure.

Now, let’s take a step into the future at the next generation of solar technology and take a peek at the Light Blossom designed by Phillips. This pole takes on the shape of a flower that opens during the day and closes at night. With the challenge on the table to try to create greener cities and the expected energy demand of cities expected to double by 2030, the people at Philips believe it will become necessary to create ways to harness not just one, but two types of energy.

In addition to harnessing energy, the Light Blossom seeks to improve the quality of life when it comes to light within the city. Currently many streetlights don’t just shine on the ground where pedestrians need it most, but up into the sky as well which has a significant impact on urban wildlife. Many streetlights also essentially are either on or off, shining at it’s brightest even if it isn’t necessary.

Philips sees to move towards a more intelligent and adaptable type of light, seeking a better harmony with it’s surrounding environment. The Light Blossom collects its own energy from the sun and wind by transforming its appearance throughout the day.

During the day…
The Blossom opens like the petals of a bud and continuously re-orient themselves as the sun moves from east to west throughout the day for maximum efficiency. During windy, cloudy days, the petals move into an upward, half-open position which allow them to catch the wind. The wind causes the petals to rotate which transfers the movement to the built-in rotor which instantly converts it into energy. And should the sun come back out, the petals open and re-position themselves to take advantage of the solar rays. This energy can either be stored for it’s own use or sent back to the grid. A decorative light pattern on the pole informs people of it’s energy collecting flow.

During the evening…
The petals of the Blossom close when night falls and uses proximity sensing for its efficient LEDs to beam light only when and where it’s needed, allowing for safety as well as the prevention of unnecessary light pollution. The idea is that the stars could once again be seen…but this time, from the city! When no one is around, the Blossom glows at a minimal level required for safety but then increases the intensity when it senses movement.

I’ve always thought that trees are an endless source of inspiration.  Here’s a cool lighting fixture spotted over at Design Boom that comes from a Studio Ito that also apparently has a love for tree structure.  The actual fixture is pretty sleek and sweet but I love the sketch. 

It’s interesting how whimsical the sketch is and how it translated to very simple structure that has a character very much the opposite of whimsy.  But then again, I guess the Solar Tree is already following in that path.  I saw one in Venice at the architecture exhibition in ‘08 and it was actually quite stunning.

images via: Luz Interruptus

I was looking through this fabulous book about all sorts of cool, innovative techniques for ways to use recycled material and then I saw this post over at Luz Interruptus  where they used 80 plastic bags to create a stunning nighttime art piece, with an overarching message to recycle, outside The Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain.  The piece was called “A Cloud of Bags Visit The Prado”.  It’s simple, just lit plastic shopping bags.  All the different logos and ads on the bags made for a very diverse landscape of backlit color, floating and crinkling in the wind.

I especially love their installation called Urban Trash which consisted of bags of bags that were lit from the inside to create these almost surreal glowing piles of plastic.  It almost looks like the cartoon version of toxic waste. 

I immediately thought of my time in Mexico City where on trash days very large piles of bags would magically appear on sidewalks, in the middle of roundabouts or vegetated medians used for walking.  It was not a pretty sight but after witnessing the alternative, chasing the garbage truck on foot through the neighborhood with your trash, I can understand why people do it.  But it’s one of those things that goes unnoticed in the day to day and becomes routine.  I wonder what people would think if suddenly it was lit up.  Would anyone notice?  What would they think or do?