Team Member • Project Blinkenlights
The Installation
In 2001, the name Blinkenlights was chosen as the title for a light installation in the Haus des Lehrers at Alexanderplatz in Berlin. It went into operation on the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Chaos Computer Club on 11 September 2001 and was conceived and realised by members of the club and the c-base.
Construction spotlights were installed behind the windows of the upper eight floors of the building on self-built wooden stands. The construction lamps were each switched on and off by a central computer via a relay. Thus, the total of 144 lamps functioned as a giant screen (eight floors with 18 windows each). To make the windows look like large pixels, they were painted with wall paint from the inside.
The Software
Using the self created BlinkenPaint software, anyone could create their own animations on their own computer and send them in by e-mail. The submissions were added to the playlist and complemented each other to form a varied programme that ran throughout the night.
Blinkenpaint was made with Macromedia Director
With the help of a mobile phone, one could also play - alone or in pairs - the computer game Pong. Personal love messages - the so-called Blinkenlights Loveletters - could be called up by phone after being sent in.
The operating software of Project Blinkenlights is published under the Free Software licence GNU GPL and is used for numerous replicas. The installation was shut down on 23 February 2002 after more than five months of operation during a big closing party.
Blinkenlights was nominated for the Webby Awards 2001 in the category Net-Art.
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