‘Six-Forty by Four-Eighty’ light installation wins accolades at Design Miami Basel

There is something about a display of lights that makes you stop and notice. Counting on this moth-like tendency of humans to be attracted to a display of lights, MIT Media Lab research students Jamie Zigelbaum and Marcelo Coehlo have presented an interesting light installation dubbed, ‘Six-Forty by Four-Eighty’ at this year’s Design Miami Basel. The modular, interactive lighting system encourages the user to touch, move, compose and recompose its constituent parts to create a rich visual drama. Based on the idea of the pixel, the installation features 220 magnetic tiles. When moved, the lights change color. What is more, light patterns across multiple pixels can be produced by simply pointing at them. Creating a breakthrough of sorts, when you touch two tiles at the same time, a current passes through the person’s skin, which has a synchronizing effect. Truly breathtaking, this interactive light installation is just awesome.