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back in week 1 I loved this image from Marsh and I really set the tone in my mind for the expansive nature of the subject and endless options for data art vis, now when I look at my final work it bears some resemblance - both geometric spheres depicting narrative about the environment in a surrealist way 

Photographer Dillon Marsh has photographed a number of mines in South Africa and digitally added computer-generated visualisation of the amount of copper extracted there

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Earlier on when I was developing my ideas, I was struggling to get an image in my head of what I wanted. Modelling the data so I had a visual of it helped a lot with this process. 

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Final Code

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using ice to get the temp to drop to white

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Climate Clock

Here are some final test images from home that demo the colours and the temps they reperesent.

Red: 27 degrees c+ Yellow: 25/26 degrees c Green: 23/24 degrees c Blue: 22/21 degrees c White: 20 degrees c and below

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Climate Clock assesmbled! The dodgy soldered leds arent too bright, but in the dark it gives off a nice colour and enough light. More images of my final process and assembly are below. I am using a plant pot stand as it’s stand and it fits perfect. The globe shape has grown on me and has a second meaning now too, as it looks like a crystal ball - a second iteration i previously discussed, the project could look into the past or future of temperatures and our climate. It also mimics the shape of a globe and given we are talking about the environment and global climate crisis it is quite fitting.

the sensor sits on the top of the globe, as i drilled a small hole in the top and hot glued it to the roof.

using old wire from a coat hanger I shaped the pieces into an umbrella shape, and cable tied each set of lights to one side. The wires are very close to touching (and blowing out the lights) so taped them all. The wiring is very messy but it just fits inside the globe.

the lights are strong only from the very top, and make these annoying spot lights. I wanted to use a light dispenser like the old ‘disco’ pattern but it didnt fit over the top of the bulky lights, so i put a tissue over the lights and it helped blur the lines - lots of makeshift work happening here.

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Ice Watch - Olafur Eliasson

‘Twelve large blocks of ice cast off from the Greenland ice sheet are harvested from a fjord outside Nuuk and presented in a clock formation in a prominent public place. The work raises awareness of climate change by providing a direct and tangible experience of the reality of melting arctic ice. Ice Watch has been installed in two locations so far.

The first installation was in Copenhagen, at City Hall Square, from 26 to 29 October 2014, to mark the publication of the UN IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report on Climate Change. The second installation took place in Paris, at Place du Panthéon, from 3 to 13 December 2015, on the occasion of the UN Climate Conference COP21, and the third version of Ice Watch was on view from 11 December 2018 to 2 January 2019 at two locations in London – outside Bloomberg’s European headquarters and in front of Tate Modern.’

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loving Olafur Eliasson’s work and delving into his website for context for my own work

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A demonstration of  the soldered LED reacting to the code and the sensor, the code went through a few iterations where I played with the temps and commands, some are attached below. Some didn't work for reasons I couldnt quite recognise but I am pretty sure it was a syntax error that altered the function but it still was accepted to run.

I also gave one more last ditch effort at the LED matrix but still not happening for me... code below.

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Footage of my dad helping me solder the leds together, and fixing them to the respective wire and resistor as it was a little out of my depth but I did give it a go also

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Coloured LEDs

I have changed to using coloured LEDs last minute because the matrix was proving too hard. Disappointed because I know the matrix would have been much better. Purchased 4 LEDs in five colours, white, red, blue, green, yellow and with my dad’s help soldered them together. The silver lining is I know the code will work as it is the same one I have been running for 3 lights, now it will just run for 5 sets of lights which I can write myself and allocate a temperature for each.

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Matrix Troubles

Ive tried a lot of different codes to try and work out how to program my matrix but I don’t understand how to get it to be a still display all lit up. I have scoured the internet for codes but they are always for incorrect matrixes or I keep getting errors regarding the library or the code that I am not sure how to fix.

All the codes do different things but I am not sure why they aren’t running i suspect I am uploading the library incorrectly? Here is a series of links I have accessed lately to not avail, some relevant some less so.

https://howtomechatronics.com/tutorials/arduino/how-to-use-a-rgb-led-with-arduino/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOuKnOG8atk

https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/SAnwandter1/programming-8x8-led-matrix-23475a

https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/Brad_83/homemade-rgb-led-matrix-shield-4c7ba5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2dFBNI5Q8E&t=742s

https://123led.wordpress.com/colorduino/

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Managed to get my matrix working via my ardunio - I haven’t altered my code yet but so it responds to the pins which I was using for the three LEDs, and it turns on at 25 degrees which is promising as it is following the commands. To plug it into the 5V power plug tape is holding the two necessary pins to it for the current as you can see in the video

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Matrix again with the ‘disco’ light disperser on top

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The matrix inside my new globe, powered by a 5V power plug at the moment - colours look really nice and light emits decently which keeps to my inital design.

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Cube to Globe

Also over the weekend I went to purchase the perspex sheets I wanted to make my cube sculpture, but was disappointed to find out the sheets cost about $80 dollars. I have already spent a bit of money on the ardunio, matrix, wires and now the driver and cant justify it. I looked for some other substitute globes like a square lamp and came across this for $10, which has a sphere globe that is decently sized and more importantly opaque to hide all my electronics inside. I tested the matrix for brightness inside and the disco ball came with a dome that spreads the light in a pattern which might be something i use later.