Neon God

 by  Avery Max

The neon mirror is 10'x10', and holds a 20x20 grid of neon symbols. There are 400 unique symbols total which are categorized by color and theme: Red (Evil), Orange (Love/Care), Yellow (Happiness/Comfort), Green (Nature/Wonder), Blue (Emptiness/Superficiality), Purple (Soul/Creation/Sexuality), and Pink (Fun/Childhood). It creates an enormous neon rainbow that is symbolically reflecting the experiences of life while physically reflecting the viewer of the piece.<br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /> The symbols were drawn in Illustrator as paths and then CNCed as grooves into panels of wood. EL Wire is then run through each shape and through a terminal hole in the panel, where it connects to a custom designed circuit board that allows for control of each of the 400 symbols individually.<br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /> A Kinect camera embedded in the center of the mirror sends a video feed which is processed in order to determine which symbols to turn on/off to create a "reflection" of the viewer of the piece.

My first exposure to ITP was Danny Rozin's wood mirror in the lobby. The second I saw it I knew I wanted to build one, but with my own twist on it. My personal aesthetic is colorful, psychedelic, and light-based - so I settled on EL Wire / Neon as the material.