Silent Lights

Urban Matter Inc.

Funding Received: 2013
Brooklyn, NY
$33,000
Funding Period: 1 year and 5 months
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October 30, 2013

Silent Lights – Structure of one gate; photo by Rick Lin

Updates
This past month our team has been working on the many technical details of executing our designs. Since the first paper models of last year, we knew Silent Lights would “contain” lights, but exactly how they would be constructed was little more than a concept until this month. We have been consulting with Plexiglas expert David Iseley of Bespoke Built (a company that has been building store display boxes for the past 15 years). We soon realized we needed all his experience to build the unusually shaped plastic containers that will protect and diffuse the LED lights inside the perforated metal panels. The shape of the container follows the curve design that is a constant through all the gates. Now that the containers are being built we are mulling over the decision of where they should be installed: remotely or on site, as they are very fragile. We have also been monitoring closely the fabricator charged with completing the 5 gates and are excited to break ground next month!

Recent Wins
We are pleased to have been contacted by Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership as a possible community partner in the area; they have agreed to promote the project locally, introduce our piece to the community and help us with maintenance.

Insight/Provocation
As we continue to develop all the details of our installation we once more realize the complexity of working with different materials and installation techniques. At this stage in the project we are relying on expert’s opinions for each component that goes into Silent Lights. Quite frequently different experts have advised polar opposite solutions to the same problem. Balancing these different suggestions is going to be the key for a successful install.