December 18, 2007

Students Unveil Artwork at Centennial Campus

The Wax and Wane sculpture opens and closes depending on how many people have entered the space. (See students build the artwork.)

Dozens of students, faculty and visitors attended the unveiling of three high-tech art installations at Centennial Campus Monday.

The artwork blossomed from a collaboration of engineering and design students who worked all semester on the project. They unveiled their work at Engineering Building II, which houses the installations.

Speaking at the event were Louis A. Martin-Vega, dean of the College of Engineering, and Marvin Malecha, dean of the College of Design. Also addressing the attendees were Mehmet Ozturk, professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Dana Raymond, associate professor of art and design.

The two professors and Alex Dean, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, advised the students on the project.

One installation, dubbed “Mr. Sound,” is an experimental theater that lets the audience play an active role. Sensors connected to floor panels and poles detect when visitors are touching them, triggering individual sound tracks created by the students. The result is a chorus of sounds that can be manipulated by the visitor.

Another piece is a series of umbrella-like fans lining a staircase. Sensors detect when visitors begin climbing the stairs, telling the fans to begin spinning as the visitors approach them. Students named it “Scyphozoa (skih-foh-ZOH-ay) volubilis.”

The third installation senses when visitors come in one part of the building, prompting wood panels on an adjacent wall to open and close depending on how many people have entered the space. The panels display a blue light. The artwork is called “Wax and Wane.”

The engineering students who worked on the project are Eric Aumiller, Jason Frankie, Richard Jankovics and George Platica.

The design students are Jenna Bost, Lauren Deans, Enrique Dominguez, Julianne Gonski, Will Hagna, Dana Hartweg, Miles Holst, Maddie Langley, Lauren Pegram, Morgan Spivey and Andrea Stroud.

— degraff —

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