Sky Funnel, downtown Kansas City, MO :: 2006.
Sky Funnel in front of Bartle Hall. This sculpture was temporarily installed at the edge of an urban square in downtown Kansas City, and was designed to draw people’s attention to the sky, something that is rarely noticed throughout the course of the day in a city. The sky is our last great commons, and a single searching eyeful can restore a sense of scale and necessity.
Sky Funnel, downtown Kansas City, MO :: 2006.
This CAD image from below the funnel shows the interactive part of this project. When a viewer walked beneath the funnel they triggered an ultrasonic distance sensor, activating a sheet of privacy glass, and causing it to change from opaque to transparent. This presented an oculus to the viewer, through which they could look up and observe the changing sky (that was already there all the time).
Sky Funnel, downtown Kansas City, MO :: 2006.
The Sky Funnel had a second, programmed element that changed every day. Up on the roof of the Municipal Auditorium we placed this unit that recorded the color of the sky every six seconds throughout the day. We used a sensor that would record a string of RGB values for each “snapshot” of the sky. Each set of values was then transmitted by radio signal to a microprocessor in the Sky Funnel and stored.
Sky Funnel, downtown Kansas City, MO :: 2006.
The Sky Funnel in front of Bartle Hall, deep pink. After night fell, the Oopic would send the series of stored RGB values to the array of LEDs built into the walls of the funnel and play back the memory of each day’s shifting sky color. The playback was at a much higher speed, so you could see a whole day over the course of about six minutes.
Sky Funnel, downtown Kansas City, MO :: 2006.
Alternating with the color pattern series that represented the actual captured memory of the previous day, was a pre-programmed series that we constructed as the “ideal” sky memory. This image represents the highlights of a trajectory we imagined from perfect sunrise to cartoon sunset.
Sky Funnel, downtown Kansas City, MO :: 2006.
The Sky Funnel in front of Municipal auditorium, violet of sunrise. The beginning of each evening’s light show was determined by the sensors that switch on power to the municipal lights at dusk.
Sky Funnel, downtown Kansas City, MO :: 2006.
The Sky Funnel in front of Municipal Auditorium, the dusky orange right before dark. The greatest challenge with this sculpture was that lightning storms (frequent in a Kansas City summer) would often disrupt the electronics, and we would have to go downtown and reset the program.
Sky Funnel, downtown Kansas City, MO :: 2006.
The Sky Funnel in front of Municipal Auditorium, the pale blue-white of an overcast noon. The privacy glass oculus still functioned at night, but was more difficult to see because of the significant light pollution in the city.
Sky Funnel, downtown Kansas City, MO :: 2006.
The Sky Funnel in front of office buildings, the deep pink-orange of a sunset streaked with clouds. The presence of so much stray light meant that the subtleties of the sky memory of the previous day often seemed bland in comparison with the hyper-idealized version seen here.