Real-time 3D art installation by Michael Magruder
Michael Magruder recently launched a new art installation at the V&A’s Digital Design Weekend (21-22 September). The artwork, entitled Data_Sea v2.0 is an Art-Visualisation-Science project that has been undertaken in collaboration with Drew Baker (Researcher, Department of Digital Humanities, KCL), Dr Johanna Jarvis (Astrophysicist, Open University) and David Steele (Data-Systems Architect, USA).
Over 30 other Art/Science/Technology projects were on display. Data_Sea was one of the event’s main projects and one of the iterations of the work will be installed in a mobile (360-degree) planetarium supplied by Discovery Dome Europe.
Data_Sea v2.0
A real-time 3D art installation exploring the relationship between astronomy and broadcast media by Michael Takeo Magruder with Drew Baker, Johanna Jarvis and David Steele, 2013
In 1941 humanity’s media transmissions became powerful enough to pass through Earth's ionosphere and travel into deep space. From that point in time our signals have radiated into the universe, creating an ever-expanding globe referred to as Earth's Radiosphere. In the 72 years since that defining moment, our communications have reached nearly two thousand other known star systems.
Data_Sea is a real-time virtual environment based upon this relationship between broadcast media and astronomy. The core geometry of the artwork is directly derived from the actual positions and characteristics of all catalogued star systems residing within the Radiosphere. Obtained from current astronomical databases such as the Hipparcos star catalogue, these scientific measurements have been translated into a three-dimensional structure constructed in Unity 3D.
Each star system's basic properties affect its aesthetic manifestation within the virtual realm. Star type is represented by shape, while the stellar nodes are connected to a central spherical body (representing our solar system) by line structures that show the spectral class and magnitude of the individual stars. Systems that are known to contain exoplanets are surrounded by concentric ring structures. Live audiovisual media is streamed into the environment adding textures and a persistent soundscape. These mediated reflections are in constant flux, forever shifting as they drift into an endless sea of virtual space.
Data_Sea v2.0 was made possible with generous support from Discovery Dome Europe and the Department of Digital Humanities, King's College London.