For two nights at the end of August,Hadrian's Wall saw its 73-mile stretch illuminated by hundreds of balloons as part of the London 2012 Festival.
A digital art installation called Connecting Light enabled the public to submit messages and see them sent across the length of the wall.
The installation featured around 400 balloons,measuring two meters in diameter and supported by two four-meter high poles,which were lit up by internal lights and positioned irregularly along the wall.
Each balloon was fitted with an XBee RF wireless module supplied by Digi International,which enabled the balloons to send and receive audience-generated electronic commands that were displayed as colourful pulses of light as communication passed across them.Using a smartphone,participants were able to write a message,choose a colour,and select the location from which to start sending the message.Sent in the form of light pulses moving from one balloon to the next,the messages were seen and identified by the colour chosen by that person.
The installation was the work of New York digital arts collective YesYesNo and artist Zachary Lieberman.Lieberman said the installation"re-imagined the border not as something that divides but as something that connects.[The]system is set up to communicate messages,to turn messages into light.Any messages you[wrote]on the Connecting Light website[were]transmitted along the wall for everyone to see."
The public were able to interact with Connecting Light along the wall at a series of specially selected interactivity points.These locations had the highest density of balloons communicating with each other.
With remote viewing in mind,Connecting Light allowed people across the world to interact with the installation and watch the messages appear in the balloons via a live stream.
Linda Tuttiett,chief executive of the Hadrian's Wall Trust said Connecting Light turned the"Roman Empire's northern frontier into a contemporary communication system"and that it was an"exciting opportunity to bring people together across the world."
Ruth Mackenzie,director of the London 2012 Festival and Cultural Olympiad said,the"installation invites us to re-imagine borders as places not where people are separated but where we meet and communicate."
