Portland Winter Light Festival | The Cloud
For the third year of the Portland Winter Light Festival, Holst teamed up with 2.Ink Studio to create a memorable, engaging light installation. The festival, which was founded in 2015, ran from February 1st to the 3rd. Created to “counteract the city’s tendency to hibernate during the winter,” the Portland Winter Light Festival brings together artists and designers from around the region to inspire Portlanders.
The Cloud
With four hubs across the city this year, our installation, The Cloud, was featured at OMSI’s front plaza.
The Progress of Light
The Cloud was conceived from the festival’s 2018 theme: “The Progress of Light.” Playing off the progression from clouds found in nature to the metaphorical computing cloud of today’s tech world, the installation consisted of glowing spheres suspended within a framework, inviting interaction with its physical and ethereal elements.
Planning
Our team began planning in late September of 2017, giving us four months to design, test, and build The Cloud. The team explored options to find the best way to create the installation.
Creating
The actual cloud was made of translucent beach balls wrapped in sleeves of delicate netting that were then twisted and manipulated into clusters. Each ball had a remotely operated LED light within, which allowed the molecules of the cloud to be lit individually or synced into a wave of pulsating light. The balls were attached to the top of the structure, which was built from wood but made flexible with the inclusion of many hinged and pivoting points.
Installation
The structure was recreated at the installation location, with the balls then arranged on top.
The Festival
OMSI’s front plaza became one of the more popular hubs in town, and with the most attendance the Portland Winter Light Festival has had since it was founded, The Cloud had a constant stream of people walking through, touching, and surrounding the installation.
After the festival was over, The Cloud’s materials didn’t go to waste; the Rockwood Boys & Girls Club and the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art reused the beach balls, Shaking the Tree, a community theater, reused the fabric in its productions, and the Rebuilding Center took the structure.
