the 16bit library

site specific installation, public art, 2005 (technically updated in 2015)
light animation, database interface, control unit (Mac Mini), DMX controller, RGB lighting units, various cables

 

The university, as an institution of knowledge transfer and dissemination, is a place of teaching and study, research and contemplation. The library is the repository of knowledge; it is the central archive that collects current and previous knowledge and makes it accessible. There is no other place where the transfer of knowledge is as vivid as here; the workstations between the shelves serve to acquire the information contained in the collections and the books are distributed to researchers throughout the region via the lending center.

The measurable moment of knowledge transfer is the borrowing of a medium from the library. With the 16bit library by Holger Friese, the purely administrative act of booking each loan now also entails a change to the system that is not immediately visible to users. Each individual loan is visualized as a gradual change in colour, which can be tracked via the Internet from anywhere in the world wide web. In the library itself, the color of the ambient light changes in room 611 on level S6. The room is illuminated by 16 RGB systems, which are controlled together and emit different proportions of red, green and blue light (corresponding to the individual pixels of a screen). The mixture of these color components results in the colorfulness of the light, and in the room, which is completely white with all the furniture, walls and floor surfaces, this results in an extremely intense color experience. This light also penetrates through the windows into the outside space of the university and, depending on the brightness of the daylight, can be seen there as a barely perceptible shimmer or as a glistening colored glow.

Location: University of Konstanz, Library (Building J / Room BS 611 – open 24/7)

Publication:
Gebaute Reform: Architektur und Kunst
am Bau der Universität Konstanz
Publisher: Hirmer Verlag / University of Konstanz
ISBN: 978-3-7774-2492-7
2016