A row of multicoloured illuminated balloons have lit up the 73 mile (117km) length of Hadrian’s Wall as part of the cultural Olympiad. The digital installation utilised 400 balloons lined from the Segedunum Roman Fort in Wallsend, to Bowness-on-Solway. The artwork titled Connecting Light was designed for people to view as a bridge not a barrier – stated the US artist Zachary Lieberman, as an “inverse wall”.
“Hadrian’s Wall is set in amazing landscape, it’s incredibly beautiful;”the artist added. The wall uses a series of tethered balloons lit by internal LED lights. The installation will become a line of pulsating colors. The changing colors will respond to text messages sent across the wall by audience members. As the London Festival put it, these interactions will “transform what was once a protective border into a line of communication.”
YesYesNo a group of New York based artists are to create A major art installation for the London 2012 Festival. In celebration of the Olympics, Zachary Lieberman and Molmol Kuo, present the commission “Connecting Light” a work that will span the length of the 73 mile-long Hadrian’s Wall across the north of England,. This is one of the most significant structures of the Roman Empire, given a contemporary relevance. The art installation will reach local, national and international audiences who will take place August 31-September 1.
The installation is visible in the evening and accessible to visitors at several locations along the wall. Messages can also be sent across the wall can be seen on smartphones, iPads and tablets and detailed information is available at a number of visitor sites along Hadrian’s wall.
YesYesNo LLC is an interactive collective that specializes in the creation of engaging, magical installations that combine creativity, artistic vision and cutting edge R&D. Founders include, leading interactive specialists Zachary Lieberman, Theo Watson and Emily Gobeille. YesYesNo aims to develop work that puts creativity and awe at the forefront of interactive media.
Zachary Lieberman’s work uses technology in a playful way to explore the nature of communication and the delicate boundary between the visible and the invisible. He creates performances, installations and on-line works that investigate gestural input, augmentation of the body and kinetic response.
Lieberman said: “We are nerd artists who try to find a poetic way to use technology – in this case it’s LEDs and radio communication. “Hadrian’s Wall is set in amazing landscape, it’s incredibly beautiful and the other thing I love about the wall is that it goes through so many different types of environments – windswept plains, craggy rocky landscapes, straight through cities. “That diversity of environments I found really powerful. I also felt it’s very peaceful in places and we wanted to capture that. Connecting Light celebrates the whole of the wall.”