Water Light Graffiti, a modern twist on Light Bright (pictures)
Those who spent hours playing Light Bright should check out this 21st century version of the game, an interactive wall of LED lights that illuminate upon contact with water.
Light bright
How do you paint something in the real world without worrying about the cleanup? Check out Water Light Graffiti, an interactive LED art project by French artist Antonin Fourneau, created at the Paris-based Digitalarti Artlab studio.
Fourneau and his team amassed a wall of about 20,000 LED lights that illuminate upon contact with water. They displayed the installation for two days in late July in the city of Poitiers, France.
Geeks may find it interesting that each printed circuit board contains no resistors or transistors, so the water conducts electricity naturally.
The beginning
Many rounds of prototyping occurred before the creators settled on the final board design used for the Water Light Graffiti wall. Above is a prototype board partially made of cardboard, copper clad, black vinyl, and copper tape.
Fourneau created the video below, in French, describing the trials and tribulations of making the right board for the job. A commenter on the Hackaday blog translated Fourneau's spoken French.
Harnessing the power of H2O
Soldering the night away
The wall
Time to play
Project lead Antonin Fourneau and his team displayed the Water Light Graffiti board in Poitiers, France, from July 22 to 24. Anyone could participate in the artistic experience, and Fourneau made it truly fun by supplying Super Soaker water guns, spray bottles, buckets, and other "brushes" for people to experiment with.
"The idea emerged while teaching a workshop in China. I asked to the students to work on the idea of 'natural interactive device,' and one night I was in my room on an electronic project and [there was a] water spray [bottle] on the desk .... suddenly a flash (of inspiration)!"
Capturing imaginations
Peekaboo
Silhouette stencil
21st century graffiti
Chomp chomp
Blank canvas
Observers and Water Light Graffiti project members stand near the massive board filled with thousands of LED lights in Poitiers, France.
Here is a video of the interactive, water-sensitive light board in action: