Posted: Friday, 16th December 2011
ELECTRIC fireflies will be brought to life in All Saints’ Park thanks to a piece of art which aims to teach about sustainability.
Housed in glass jars as though they have been trapped by children trying to capture their light, the fireflies will be suspended around the park and will flash red, green white and yellow.
The solar-powered units which were inspired by research into how the insect makes its light, will also emit the musical notes C, F and G, the basis of all 12-bar songs, to produce a striking display of light and sound.
MMU’s Professor John Hyatt who is director of Miriad (Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design) developed the project with Craig Martin of the Manchester School of Architecture.
Sustainable art
John says, “Our objective was partly educational as we believe we should be steering the next generation of designers away from creating things which drain our natural resources and towards using what the planet already provides us with”.
John also believes that the project is of particular relevance to Manchester as the cradle of the Industrial Revolution, “It’s not about blaming industry for doing what it does and depleting natural resources, it’s about taking some of the responsibility for our own discipline as designers for the state of the planet.
“The sooner that human design starts to work in harmony with natural systems the sooner we will have the chance to save humanity. These are the principles that we are hoping to instil in young designers”.
The eleven units use solar powered batteries and LED lights encased in glass jars. The lights are synced to sound to produce random musical notes along with the combination of coloured lights.
The project was funded by the European Regional Development Fund and organised through a collaboration of Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester University and Corridor Manchester.
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