Though we are becoming increasingly immersed and dependant on computers in our lives, very few people actually understand how they work. Bytelight takes one basic, ubiquitous aspect of the computer, an LCD pixel, and portrays it in a physical representation that is familiar and unintimidating: an overhead light controlled by light switches.

Bytelight is an interactive light sculpture representing an individual LCD pixel, and the binary bit data that defines its color. The pixel is composed of three tube lights: red, blue, and green. Beneath the box is a row of 24 switches, each switch representing one bit of information about the pixel. The first 8 switches allow for a range of 0-255 for the red light, the next 8 for the green light, and the final eight for the blue light. Flipping the switches effects the brightness of each lamp and the combined color of the light that gets cast. The 24-bit color scheme allows for up to 16,777,216 possible colors.

Created in collaboration with Gabriella Levine.





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Credits
Photos by Joshua Kleiner. The first video up top of footage from the ITP Winter show was recorded by Arturo Vidich and edited by Nisma Zaman. The second video slightly below that was recorded by Gabriella Levine and I, and edited by me. Bytelight logo designed by me.