Luminous at Darling Quarter

Luminous Interactive digital art platform was the brainchild of Lend Lease Group, and is billed, according to the Wall Street Journal, as 'the world's biggest interactive permanent light display'. It was officially opened in the Darling Quarter Precinct in Sydney Central Business District (CBD) on 18 May 2012.

Luminous at Darling Quarter is a permanent platform solely for illuminated digital 'art' – both animated and static. The 'canvas' extends over four levels of two campus-style buildings, covering 557 windows in total, and presents a digital façade spanning a distance of 150 metres. The fixtures were manufactured by Australian architectural lighting specialists Klik Systems using advanced LED systems.

Interactive content is available from 6pm, Friday through Sunday, with touch screen kiosks in Tumbalong Park allowing the general public to paint their own digital designs and play over-scaled arcade games on the buildings in front of them. Web surfers can also play using their smart phone or contribute on their computer through a dedicated website. The online component of Luminous has similarities to Project Blinkenlights, a Berlin digital light installation, but expands the concept for the general public, allowing user-friendly interaction in an unprecedented way.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia occupying the buildings is joint partner in the project along with the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority and Lend Lease. The consortium selected Bruce Ramus as the first artist, Artistic Director and Lighting Designer for Luminous. Canadian-born Ramus made his name lighting stage shows for U2 and David Bowie, and is design mentor for Sydney Opera House.

At Darling Quarter, each window forms a 'pixel' in the canvas, lit with Klik Systems's energy efficient LEDs, and seen from a distance can form a coherent animated picture. A sophisticated colour palette is available thanks to white LEDs added to the standard RGB (red, green, blue) colours. The system is also capable of integrating music: graphic synchronization allows for sound-based designs to be visualized on the canvas.

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Wikipedia