An art installation in New York City uses sixteen 1.2 watt lasers to create a wormhole shape.

Particulates by Rita McBride

Spectators are prevented from accessing the beam by means of a fence-like barrier.

Artist Rita McBride created Particulates out of her interests in space, time travel and quantum physics. From the exhibition brochure:

     “The 2017 commission by Rita McBride, Particulates, features a type of high-intensity laser that is normally reserved for industrial, military, and scientific use to harness light’s efficient capacity to articulate space. At first glance the lasers clearly define the geometry of a hyperboloid of revolution, a hyperbola rotated around a single axis. Yet the contours of this shape are dispersed by the constant motion of particulate matter—ambient dust and molecules of water circulating in the air—that becomes visible as it passes through the beams of light….. However, the real and imaginative spaces conjured by Particulates remain elusive, and are protected by a series of custom carbon-fiber panels, titled Guidance “Barriers” (2017), which the artist designed to keep us at a lawful distance.”

It is on exhibition at the Dia:Chelsea from October 27 2017 until June 2 2018. CT Lasers provided technical support.

From Engadget. Photo by the artist.

Tags: US, New York, 1W green diode, Art, Color: Green

An August 30 2014 article in the Phnom Penh Post profiles an artist who uses laser pointers to draw onto nude models while an open camera shutter captures the exposure. Gian Claudio di Cecco, 47, calls the results a “live painting with a picture.”

From an exhibition of laser pointer-created light paintings by Gian Claudio di Cecco.

He pointed to Pablo Picasso, who in 1949 collaborated with Life Magazine photographer Cjon Mili to create light drawings:

From a series of photos created by Picasso for Life Magazine in 1949

Di Cecco said that using laser pointers was a challenge: “When you open the shutter for 20 seconds, you have to go really fast with the light – it’s like dancing. And sometimes the model moves, and you have to try and try with the same model for the perfect picture.”

From the Phnom Penh Post. Additional photos of Di Cecco’s work can be seen at the link.

Tags: Cambodia, Art, Photo

Hand-held laser pointers are used to control music and trigger projected visuals, in a 2013 art installation in the Royal Chapel of Protestante Church in Brussels. The church’s architectural elements were specially projection-mapped. Detectors see the laser “dot” and use this as input to an “interactive virtual musical instrument,” where different locations map to different instruments and melodies. In addition, video projectors are triggered to illuminate areas near the laser dot.

The laser pointer coming from lower left leaves a trail of falling “stars,” while the laser coming from the right triggers a glow on a ceiling beam plus a video to play on the ceiling.

The installation, Archifon II, was created by artists Tomáš Dvorák and Dan Gregor.

From Archifon, which has an embedded video of the installation shown above, Archifon II, as well as the first Archifon.

Tags: Belgium, Art, Video