http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenhillcenter/sets/72157624832125885/with/4998709422/
http://greenhillcenter.tumblr.com/
Wind Drawings
a drawing installation by Mark Nystrom
Fascinated by the power of wind, I wanted to gain a better understanding of how it changes throughout a day. I built a simple apparatus to capture wind events with sensors and designed custom software to translate that data. Wind data collected on the roof of the Greensboro Cultural Center is being used to create the drawings you see. For each drawing, the program draws in real-time making marks according to current wind conditions registered every second.
Marks are placed around the center as if the wind pushed them. Winds from the west, for example, place marks on the right. Distance from the center is determined by wind speed with faster winds placing marks farther away. The program draws a set of curves between one second’s plot and the next. The drawing onscreen is being generated by data collected since midnight. Every night at midnight, the program saves its drawing of the day’s winds to be printed and displayed on the wall before starting a new drawing.
The force of the wind ebbs and flows and suddenly shifts in direction. The wind has a past, present and future. I wanted to capture this complexity and help tell the story of wind. With my wind drawings, I partner with a natural force to create a visual experience that I hope will help restore and renew our connection to the natural world.
Mark Nystrom
Assistant Professor
Department of Art
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608-2020
nystrom@appstate.edu
