panGenerator's Kinetic Sculpture Visualizes Real-Time Traffic Data
Installed at Bao’an International Airport, Shimmering Pulse consists of 451 independent modules arranged in the form of a hexagon.
The Warsaw-based art collective panGenerator was commissioned by multinational technology conglomerate Tencent (makers of the PUBG video game) to design an interactive kinetic sculpture for the Bao’an International Airport in Shenzhen, China that represents the pulsing life in the electronics mecca. To best represent that life, panGenerator took inspiration from nature, notably the evolving shapes and patterns found with flocks of birds and schools of fish, to create the “Shimmering Pulse” interactive artwork.
“Such phenomena seemed to be a fitting metaphor of the dynamics of the city inhabited by 13 million people where distinct patterns of behavior are emerging from the independent actions of individuals,” panGenerator explains The kinetic sculpture features 451 independent, spinning modules with iridescent reflective sides, which form a kind of physical pixel. The modules are laid out in a hexagonal array, where the shimmering pixels are combined to produce a light projection onto the installation surface to visualize real-time traffic data.
The hexagon shape is divided into sections that correspond to the province’s nine districts, and passersby can use an interface to browse the history of each district, as well as their respective traffic densities for that particular time. panGenerator states that the sculpture allows the public to observe and interact with the Shimmering Pulse in an artful and unexpected way.