A proposal for a demonstration of the animated mandala on a building's exterior


In various spiritual traditions, mandalas are employed for focusing attention, as a spiritual teaching tool, for establishing a sacred space, and as an aid to meditation.  According to the psychologist David Fontana, its symbolic nature can help one "to access progressively deeper levels of the unconscious to experience a mystical sense of oneness with  the cosmos. The psychoanalyst Carl Jung saw the mandala as a representation of the unconscious self and an aid in working  towards wholeness in personality.
A large, light-weight illuminated mandala would be temporarily suspended on the side of a building   This linear mandala will be animated with moving patterns dancing over its surface.  An architect's animated rendering  offers an impression of the effect of the moving patterns on a large outdoors mandala..  The patterns are organized, cohesive and aesthetically pleasing, and they are not repetitive. This is a design I have employed in several artworks over the past 35 years.
 It is derived from an 11th Century tiling pattern and generated from a combination of 4,5,6,7 and 8 sided polygons . The lines that form the mandala meet in 144 points.
The mandala( below) is applied as an opaque overlay on a large circle of translucent vinyl, 18 feet diameter or so, depending on the site. 

Yellow Mandala
 The areas that are black are opaque.  The yellow lines represent the translucent areas of the bare vinyl
 which will be animated by back lighting LEDs.

Figure 2    
Twelve inches behind each of the 144 points will be a high intensity
(1000 lumen), low voltage (18 volts) LED (Light Emitting Diode).  The LED will illuminate the nexus and the lines radiating from it.


Figure 3
The image above illustrates that each of the LEDs is turned on and off by a custom designed computer and associated electronics and sensors that are sitting inside a window behind the mandala  The other components are outside attached to the LED's structure or down near the street.
I have built, used and improved this system for three decades.  A version of it, the PROGMOD, currently on loan to the Hands On Museum in Ann Arbor, has been exhibited at the IBM Gallery in NYC, The Everson Museum and the Cincinnati museum of Art. It is a thoroughly debugged, field-tested and reliable system.  
Its custom program, GLO 1,  uses data from sensors to make decisions about the nature of the animated light patterns it displays.  The sensors are a radar unit and a microphone both located at street level where the movements and sounds of visitors and pedestrians can interact with the system.
A video clip excerpted from "Jim Pallas: Electronic Sculptor", an Emmy-winning film by Sue Marx shows the PROGMOD (as a work in progress) and the Century of Light responding to Harbinger Dance troupe's movements and the sound of music.

        2012 Budget for the Demonstration
(Note: This budget is realistic only because the I already have the necessary computing hardware, drivers, and relays.)

148 LEDs at 5.76 each ........................$664
400 sq feet of 4 mil vinyl or nylon..............48
400 sq feet of canvas................................92
2880 feet (144 x 20 ) data cable  feet.....374
1440 feet (144x10)power cable..............152
microwave radar unit...............................98
Power supplies......................................200
technical assistance................................800
total.......................................................2328

.Introduction

Century of Light: Six minute video

 PROGMOD :Off-site programming module

Technical: Information and images of the Century of Light

Proposed:  Demonstration of the mandala

Animated Rendering: Temporary mandala on a building

Labyrinth: Futile attempt to save the artwork.

Currently the PROGMOD is on long term loan to the Ann Arbor.Hands On Science Museum..

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