Light as a medium

The Belgian digital design studio Lab[au] set the ball rolling in 2006 with the urban installation 'Touch'. From a pavilion at the bottom of the tower people were able to interact in real-time with the illuminated building via a multi-touch screen, either individually or collectively. Both static (touch) and dynamic (gesture) inputs were recognized in generating an elementary graphical language of points, lines and surfaces, using a monochromatic colour palette (background) combined with black and white (graphical elements). Once the composition was created, the user could take a snapshot of the tower and send it as an electronic greeting card.

From August to October 2007 they followed this up with 'Who's afraid of Red, Green and Blue'. For two months, the time was graphically displayed using a light-colour code: Red = hours, G = minutes, B = seconds. At midnight, the tower was a blaze of white light signalling the start of a new day.

During the next two months, Lab[au] turned the tower into a weather station, displaying the next day's temperature, cloud cover, precipitation and wind conditions using colour and geometrical patterns to visualize/transcribe real-time data provided by the Royal Metereological Institute of Belgium.

Finally, the Jason Bruges Studio (UK) designed an interactive light artwork for the Brussels light festival, SolstiS 2008. In 'Would you like that gift-wrapped?' the tower was enveloped in the colours worn by the people of Brussels. The light ramp, a trompe l'oeil extension of the Dexia building facade, 'pulled' colours from individuals passing in front of it, wrapping them around itself and up the tower. (Kirsten Hannema)