Twilight colourplay for Glebe foreshore

A play of changing colours contrasting live with each day’s sunset is set to highlight two large fig trees in Bicentennial Park at the end of Glebe Point Road.

The public art installation is one of a series included in Council’s upgrade of Glebe’s main street.

But the wind-powered project will be more than just a pretty thing – it will help in developing standards for connecting small-scale wind turbines to the electricity grid and earn a feed-in tariff.

The artwork, Earth vs Sky, by light sculptor and COFA academic Allan Giddy, uses a small video camera to sample the hues of each day’s sunset. A computer program will calculate the opposite to the dominant colour and control LED lights to bathe the trees in a subtle light contrasting with the sunset. This employs a basic design principle – that the eye adjusts to the dominant colour in its field of vision, so opposite colours appear more vivid. The effect will last only until dark each evening, its timing changing with the season and the weather.

The work will be powered by an 18-metre, 5Kw wind turbine located near the Johnstone Canal. The turbine comes from a company linked to the University of Newcastle, Aerogenesis Australia, which is developing both the technology and helping design the national feed-in standards. The wind turbine system is intended to provide small-scale power to remote places in third-world countries.

The concept has been endorsed by Council and will next go through a development application. Construction will commence next year.

by Michael Gormly