The Night Lily is an ethereal kinetic sculpture nestled high in the Forest canopy. During the day it lies dormant, a beautiful flowerbud sneaking out now and then for a peek at the world around it. At night, however, the energy of the Forest breathes life into the Night Lily as it blooms into a mesmerising spectacle of light, color, and motion. Like a mirage, its petals and tendrils shimmer with light as it pulses rhythmically, while its captivating glow draws you deeper into the heart of the Forest.
“Night, when words fade and things come alive.”
-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Flight to Arras
Design
Kinetic Sculpture
The blooming motion of the flower is achieved by extending and retracting the flower assembly from its decorative housing using a simple ball screw mechanism driven by a motor. The flower assembly uses flexible fiberglass rods for structure, which bend outwards as the assembly moves up and down. Custom electronics precisely control the mechanism’s movement, allowing for lifelike motion as the Night Lily comes to life.
Projection Mapping
Attached to the outer housing of the flower is a pair of projectors which allows us to cover the petals of the flower with light, 360° animated textures, and video. The petals are made of a thin, semi-transparent fabric stretched between flexible fiberglass rods, so that images projected on them at night appear to hang in the air and create a 3D illusion.
Atmospheric Effects
The aura of the flower is further enriched by integrated atmospheric effects such as fog and essential oil aromas. Periodically, the Night Lily uses an integrated fog machine to generate a variety of conditions ranging from a gentle haze to a thick cloud of essential oil infused fog. Projector beams dance in the fog as they shower the people and ground below with intricate patterns of colored light. The senses of sight, touch, and smell coalesce into the sensory embrace of the Night Lily.
Control System
& Animation
The motion and atmospheric effects of the installation are achieved using a microcontroller running custom software to communicate with the motor and fog machine. This software communicates with the on-board computer to coordinate the flower’s blooming motion with the projection mapping and atmospheric effects. We will use show control software (Derivative TouchDesigner) that supports MIDI, OSC, and DMX512 protocols as well as the ability to incorporate reactive sensors, such as microphones. The Night Lily will be pre-programmed with several different responsive scenes triggered by different environmental conditions, allowing for completely autonomous operation.
3d Renderings
Click to view hi-res.
Renderings are for conceptual and informational purposes and may not be an exact representation of the finished product.
Build
The assembly of the Night Lily will take place over a 9 week period. Depending on time, budget, and other resources, we have the possibility of adding additional features to the flower, such as a mist or a petal curling mechanism.
on-site assembly
The Night Lily will arrive at Electric Forest pre-assembled and fully retracted into its housing. Because of its light weight and short height (while retracted), our team can easily drive it to the Forest. Installation is just a matter of rigging the piece, connecting it to power, and performing initial calibration.
Pro Forma Budget
25%
mechanism & electronics
10%
control systems
35%
lighting & projectors
10%
housing and materials
8%
atmospherics
12%
contingency & additional features
Challenges & Considerations
Placement Outside Sherwood Forest
Although we believe the Night Lily is most at home in Sherwood Forest, its design is easily adapted to be hung between any three or four vertical support structures, hard-mounted overhead on a single vertical truss, or hard-mounted at an angle directly to an anchored single vertical truss.
Manufacturing & Machining
We have specified dimensions in our current build, and priced corresponding parts that are ready to order online. In addition, we’ve reviewed our design with a manufacturing engineer, and can rely on his expertise and facilities to machine parts at cost if needed. We are confident in our ability to construct this device on-budget and on-time.
Power & Stability
The device relies on a 120VAC power source to support its many components. The ball screw motor, microphone, microcontroller, fog machine, and computer (running projection software) will all need power. The system is protected against power failure with integrated surge protectors and our software is designed to safely recover from a loss of power and automatically restart.
Safety
The build materials have been carefully selected to be extremely lightweight yet strong. The main assembly mounts in the middle of three or four trees or posts, suspended by aircraft grade wire rope. The anchor points on the body will be located in such a way as to prevent rotation and swinging of the assembly. Alternately, the device can be mounted directly to a stage truss or tree. The mounting height is determined such that when fully bloomed, the lowest part of the flower is approximately 8’ above the ground, keeping it safely out of reach of festival goers.
Weather
The device will continue to operate as normal within a reasonably broad range of weather conditions. If heavy winds or other inclement weather is expected, the device will be retracted. If it is currently blossomed, a member of the team (or volunteer) will need to be present to command it to retract. If the Festival Art team would like more robust automatic operation, and internet/cellular coverage is available, we can program weather sensitive behavior into the installation.
Mist
Optionally, instead of fog or limited atmospheric effects, our team is very interested in using water mist. A high-density mist machine can be incorporated, which would enable the Night Lily to emit a beautiful, sparkling mist throughout its vicinity in Sherwood Forest. This “pollen” effect would provide a cool oasis for daytime festival goers, as well as a captivating field of light at night. Like fog, it also allows for the use of aromatics. Mist has some drawbacks, because it is more costly, and requires a larger footprint. We would need a safe footprint on the ground to place the audible pump and a drum of water (or supplied water source, i.e. hose bib), both of which would need to be connected to the installation (plumbed, a decorative casing, etc.).