An Electronic Dimmer for the Viewing of Sculptures and other Artworks

Leonarclo. Vol. 13, pp. 43 44. Pergamon Press 1980. Printed in Great Britain AN ELECTRONIC D I M M E R FOR T H E V I E W I N G OF SCULPTURES AND OTHER ARTWORKS Paul F. Miller, Jr. A common experience is the change in what is seen when viewers move their point of observation before paintings and, particularly, before sculptures. When I began making welded sculptures that possess intricate geometric designs within a circular convex form (Fig. I), I soon that wear out, and such a device, operated electronically. can be made. To my knowledge electronic dimmers are not available commercially, except specifically for 35 mm slide projector dissolve units. Two undergraduate engineering students. Richard Szmauz and Richard Taborek of the class of 1977 at Stevens Institute of Technology. developed in the Art and Technology Program [ I ] an automatic electronic device that causes light to be produced from two sources alternately at predetermined intervals. It provides for the 180 out-of-phase increase and decrease of intensity of light from two flood lamps and for cycle durations ranging from 30sec to 5 min. The diagram in Fig. 2 shows the arrangement of lights before one of my wall-mounted sculptures. Sculpture Top view Wall I l I ‘ //’ l I / / I / / I / I / I / I / Spot light Fig. 1.‘Sunburst’,sculpture. welded bronze rods. diam. 76cm, depth 14cm. 1968. noted that a slight change in observation point would produce a dramatic difference in their appearance, much as would a change in the direction of light from a source. As my sculptures present complex levels of patterns within patterns, viewers can alter the appearance of the patterns they see by moving their point of observation. But I wanted people to be able to enjoy this effect while remaining at one point of observation. My solution was to provide alternating directions of illumination. At first 1employed two ordinary dimmers activated by a camshaft driven by a small synchronous motor. Each dimmer alternately caused the light sources it controlled to gradually brighten and dim. The light sources were directed to different areas of a sculpture to illuminate different patterns. I found that the most effective time cycle for viewing changes in the patterns was about 30 sec. Unfortunately, however, metal fatigue sets in soon when a mechanical dimmer goes from dim to bright and to dim every 30 sec. It was clear that I needed a device whereby the dimming can be accomplished with no moving parts *Sculptorand teacher. StevensInstitute of Technology,Castle Point Station, Hoboken. NJ 07030. U.S.A. (Received 4 Oct. 1978). Wall plug Fig. 2. Arrangemenr of lights for the illuniination of a wallmounted sculpture. A number of applications for the electronic dimmer havebeen found by my students in carrying out projects in the Art and Technology Program. For example, on a project involving the use of mirrors that become transparent when they are illuminated from behind, the dimmer was employed to control the lighting through repeated cycles of diminishing and increasing intensity. Henry Arakelian, a graduate physics student, employed the dimmer in the illumination of his two stained glass windows in an exhibition. The windows were displayed side-by-side with separate lightingboxes behind them. They were illuminated alternately from in front and from behind in a darkened room as shown in Fig. 3. The resulting appearance of the windows was rather different. One window, having areas covered in opaque gold leaf, shows the gleaming gold when illuminated from the front but areas of black when illuminated from behind. Of course, other differences in color are evident when the direction of illumination of the glass pieces of varying thickness and texture is changed. 43 44 Paul F. Miller, Jr. Fig. 3. Arrangement of lightsfor the illumination of stained glass windows in an exhibition. I have applied thedimmer in demonstration of additive color mixture. By causing two beams of light of complementary colors to be superimposed on a white wall, one can show the cycle of continuous variation from one unmixed complementary color through colors of the same hue but diminishing saturation until white is obtained and then through colors of the opposite hue and increasing...