2016
Constructive Interference
The sculpture is a metaphor for how we exchange knowledge, how synthesis of apparently different fields widens our perspective, and how investigation deepens our understanding of the reality in which we live.
Client
Oregon State University
Collaborators
Hypersonic
Press
Creative Applications
Design Indaba
ID Engineers
Boing Boing
Constructive Interference was a collaboration with Hypersonic for the Learning Innovation Center at Oregon State University.
Constructive Interference is a sculpture designed to engage members of the OSU community in active learning, by presenting a mystery to their senses: a static object that appears, impossibly, to be moving.
The sculpture is a metaphor for how we exchange knowledge, how synthesis of apparently different fields widens our perspective, and how investigation deepens our understanding of the reality in which we live. The composition of the moire pattern derives from the principles of electrostatics, where two electric poles form field lines in an exchange of electrical information.
Moving shapes and hidden structures appear fleetingly within the sculpture as the eye and body pass by.
–Boing Boing
Constructive Interference is composed of two large patterned sheets of steel, designed to create a rapidly changing visual interference effect as viewers pass by. Secondary moving shapes and hidden structures appear fleetingly within the sculpture as the eye and body pass by. The effect and shape of the piece changes dramatically from one vantage point to another around the space, while the sculpture itself remains static.
The sculpture and its dynamic pattern were developed in Processing, Rhino-Grasshopper, and Python. The rear surface was painted directly on to the wall, using several CNC-vinyl cut masks to create the painted rust pattern. The front surface was fabricated from 20 laser cut pieces of Corten steel, welded together on site and finished to form a single 30 foot wide, 17 foot tall steel sheet. This surface was hand-treated to a rich weathered patina, curving from flush with the wall to a dramatic overhang.
360 Making of Constructive Interference Video
(click and drag while the video is playing)
Special thanks to:
Heather Blind, Dave Hornsby @ Integrated Design Engineers, James Gridley and the Virginia MetalFab team, Kate Ali @ Oregon Arts Commission, John Gremmels @ OSU
