Acrylic Sheet Featured In Unique Reactive Art Installation

When was the last time you actually wanted to visit a hospital?  The creators of a new reactive art installation in just such a setting have aimed to show how their work can soothe and heal—particularly when people become the art!

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Design firm Projectione, Munci, Ind., created Temporal Synapse--a media installation merging Acrylite acrylic sheet from Evonik Corp. with  nik Corp., LED lighting and computer programming to conceptually interpret and display the physical movements of patients, visitors and staff as brain waves. It is featured in the elevator lobby of each floor at the new Eskenazi Health Center in Indianapolis, Ind., where it made its debut in January 2014.

“Says designer Kyle Perry, “Hidden in the middle of each wall is a passive fish-eye camera. As people wait for the elevators, the camera picks up their motion. That motion is fed into a computer, which sends signals to hundreds of tiny LEDs. The lights illuminate behind the Acrylite sheet and resemble cellular structures seen within the body. The LEDs slowly glow on-and-off in different parts of the display as people move and react to what they see, giving the impression of different synapses firing in the brain.”

Projectione chose full-line plastic distributor Meyer Plastics of Indianapolis to identify the product that would offer the ideal design possibilities, such as excellent optical characteristics and consistent light stability throughout its composition. Says Perry, “Using our CNC routers, we were able to sculpt the Acylite acrylic panels and machine different patterns with each cell. We also needed large quantities of Acrylite for the project, and its affordability definitely made that possible.”