Built Work · 2026
The projected field from Bethel Woods, driven by a web version of the vane. Drag sideways or hold the left or right arrow key to interact with the virtual installation.
The Visitor Is the Motor
People turning the vane kept asking where the motor was. There wasn't one. Some only made the connection when they stepped back and watched the flowers fall back to blobs as the vane slowed. When we told them they were the motor, they wanted to go push it again.
Technical Workflow
- Sensing and Electronics: an AS5600 magnetic encoder on the vane's shaft, and an ESP32 sending its speed and direction to TouchDesigner over a direct wireless link.
- Projection: a GLSL field that opens as the vane turns, keeps opening as it coasts, and closes once it stops, masked so the doorway stays dark.
Why the Doorway Is Dark
The doorway is never lit. The shader masks it to black, and the web version keeps the mask. On site, light in the doorway would have fallen on the vane and on the person turning it, putting the show onto their body. The doorway is where the control is, and lighting it would turn an instrument into a display. The person turning is meant to author the light, not stand in it.
Tuning for a Real Vane
The prototype was a bench: an ESP32, a stepper motor standing in for the vane, and the field projected on an office wall. A stepper never slows on its own, so the bench needed a slow drain designed in. The built vane had mass and friction of its own, and on the day of the activation most of that design came out. The field opened in a turn or so and closed in seconds, because what mattered was that people could see their effort at once.
Process & Festival Documentation