Novelties, design, markus lerner, reactive sparks, art, traffic

"Reactive Sparks" Turns Traffic Agony Into Pretty Art

A new art installation by Markus Lerner is turning the agony of sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic into something a bit more pleasing on the eyes. "Reactive Sparks" is an art installation commissioned by lighting company OSRAM. It watches traffic patterns and maps the patterns into seven light towers that sit alongside the road. Each tower contains 110,000 LED lights, likely provided by OSRAM.

The installation sits outside the OSRAM headquarter in Munich at the Mittlerer Ring, a busy roadway. When a car passes by the installation, a single line flashes across the top of the tower and is added to the light wave at the bottom. As more cars pass the bigger the wave will be.

While the lighting towers look nice from an artistic standpoint, they are just asking to be a victim of road rage. [Neatorama]

2:30 PM on Mon Mar 31 2008
By Travis Hudson
992 views
9 comments

Comments

Indiana Bento and the... at 03:01 PM on 03/31/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 153
Brought to you by Acura TSX

So basically, they would stay a solid color in L.A. during rush hour
JSmith53 at 03:05 PM on 03/31/08
Reply by Email
*

I wanted to like this after reading the description, but it's not as cool as it sounds. Maybe the video just doesn't do it justice.
jonnyobrien at 03:23 PM on 03/31/08
Reply by Email
*

Is this the story we get instead of Knight Rider 2008 being ordered to series without turbo boost?
charles_barrett at 03:40 PM on 03/31/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 296
Brought to you by Acura TSX

There's an installation of illuminated columns at the inlet/outlet of the terminal ring road for LAX; they change color gradually over time in unison, but are not tied to traffic or any other external stimuli that I am aware of. This Munich installation seems more interactive.
PhoneticLorin at 03:49 PM on 03/31/08
Reply by Email
*

@charles_barrett: At first glance I thought that this piece actually was LAX.
But, seriously, does anyone actually need any more distractions while driving?
Indiana Bento and the... at 03:59 PM on 03/31/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 153
Brought to you by Acura TSX

@PhoneticLorin: Well, if it was Megan Fox in her underwear hitchhiking, I'll take that distraction!
pryndyl has gone Welsh at 04:40 PM on 03/31/08
Reply by Email
*

There is some money well spent. Like the highly pixellated road signs in the Metro area that warn of "TR8FF_C C8NJE5TI-H" while I'm staring at the same bumper for the last half-hour. Natch!
Turboner at 05:50 PM on 03/31/08
Reply by Email
*

I noticed something new at the PDX airport on my way to lovely (jk) Minneapolis on Sunday. There's sensors above the parking stalls that turn on little LED lights showing green for open or red for closed. No more being teased by that "open" spot that's actually a Mini hidden behind some ugly SUV. Totally rad, why didn't we already think of this 10 years ago?

BTW Minnesota is boring. At least there's a fast WiFi network at the hotel for Jalopnik and Pr0n...
davewin at 09:26 AM on 04/01/08
Reply by Email
*

Ah yes, technical masturbation at its best. Could these distractions not themselves perpetuate congestion?