SAM LIGHTS!
º Olympic SCulpture Garden
º seattle art museum
º SEATTLE, WA, USA
º DEC 18, 2017 - 19
º CUSTOM INSTALLATION
THE EVENT
The SAM LIGHTS event by Seattle Art Museum is an annual highlight of the area’s diverse cast of light artists hosted at the famous Olympic Sculpture Park.
When the Seattle Art Museum approached Sensebellum in 2017 about an activation at SAM Lights it was a fantastic opportunity to illuminate the park in innovative ways that elated patrons and elevated the visual presence of the event.
THE EXPERIENCE
The core of the activation involved light, interactivity, sound, massive scale, and patron collaboration.
This was achieved through an installation featuring a scale model of the park with the paths as layers and trees as light up buttons. Each arcade-style button was placed on the map corresponding to real life trees full of TUBIX LED Bars.
Each press of the button triggered a sound from integrated speakers with a synchronous sparkle of light in that given tree.
From this simple and intuitive interface a symphony - and sometimes cacophony - of sound emerged as patrons explored the studio space with each other to elation and surprise as the interaction between the senses was revealed.
Other years brought light, sound, and interactivity to bear with rows of vibrant vertical TUBIX LED Bars in 2018 and interactive 3D projection mapping on the massive “Wake” sculptures in 2019.
As always the entire system was designed and fabricated from scratch with love in our studio.
“Thank you so much for your participation in SAM Lights. It was a pleasure to work with you again. […] Your installation was amazing. Guests really loved engaging with Wake in a new way. I’m so grateful for all of your energy!”
- Maggie O’Rourke, SAM Program Associate