Cloud

Project description

"Cloud" is a proposed urban art piece that combines vision, solar technology, and information technology to create a real-life installation. The work explores the concept of mixed virtual reality by allowing individuals to interact with friends and family and upload and share various items in any circumstance to the cloud to build new communities in virtual worlds. By showcasing their inner selves in the virtual environment, individuals co-create the "cloud," which reflects the real world.

The design of the installation emphasizes the harmony between nature and technology, taking the form of the sun in real-time and connecting individuals with elemental planetary energy. The installation is set in a public park and consists of 500 solar balloons that gather together to form a giant cloud floating in the park. The 1.5-meter-wide solar balloons are filled with helium and installed into the ground through automatic pulley wheels.

Inspired by the solar-powered hot air balloon by environmental artist Tomas Saraceno and Roberto Grena's Energy from Solar Balloons (Solar Energy, April 2010), the air inside the solar balloons has a lower density than the surrounding air during the day. As a result, the solar balloons rise when the internal air heats up, creating a buoyant force that turns on the automated pulley wheels, converting kinetic energy to mechanical and electric energy. The balloons move up and down with the rise and fall of the sun.

Audiences can participate in the installation by scanning the QR code on the website and uploading information to social media. This encourages audiences to interact, navigate both online and offline, and play along the border between virtuality and reality. When an audience member uploads content to the cloud, the cloud gives feedback by lighting up one of the balloons with a specific color. This forms a digital interactive cloud for shadow and light, enhancing the unique sense of location and bringing potential for night activities to the site.