Julius Schmiedel

This is the archive of documented work, from most recent back to 2002.

As most of these things are time-based, would you take note of the videos.

For a short portfolio, a quick overview, please see “7 Selected”.

  • Little Peeper

    In collaboration with the artist Meng-Hsuan Wu, at that time also a resident at Flux Factory, an interactive video installation was presented at the Chashama Film Festival in New York City. This engaging installation was on display from October 22nd to 26th, operating nightly from 6 PM to 11 PM.

    The installation features a representation of a pair of eyes crafted from rice paper, animated through rear projection technology. The eyes, which mimic the curious gaze of an individual exploring the streets of New York City for the first time, wander playfully, capturing the essence of wonder and discovery. Their movements are dynamically controlled by a computer connected to a camera, utilizing computer vision tracking software to follow the movements of pedestrians on the sidewalk.

    The intention behind this work was to evoke a sense of humor and joy, inviting viewers to engage with the artwork in a lighthearted manner. Audience reactions were overwhelmingly positive, with many expressing delight and laughter as they interacted with the installation. This playful exchange between the artwork and its viewers created a memorable experience, highlighting the humorous side of urban exploration.

  • LED Workshop at Flux Factory

    On October 21st, i gave a workshop on how to work with LEDs in a simple but versatile way. The workshop started by a presentation of some of my works involving LEDs, followed by a short introduction to the history of LEDs. But the main goal of the workshop was to learn how to use LEDs for the participants own projects- therefore i offered different design ideas to the participants, which they then built and took home at the end of the evening.

  • radioactiveduck.net

    For my ongoing project of deploying radioctive ducks into the world, i created a homepage with a map of current and future locations of the ducks. The site is still under construction, once finished you can click on the location of a duck to see pictures and information about the place it is sitting.

    The fresh ducks for New York City are ready, as soon as i have more media and information, i will post it here, and on the new site as well.

    click on the image to proceed to radioactiveduck.net
    click on the image to proceed to radioactiveduck.net

  • Led Bateaux

    On the 11th of september, Flux Factory had a fundraiser on the “bushwick boat” in brooklyn. For this event i’ve built 13 different little boats, which were equipped with a battery and 3 to 12 LEDs each. As with the ducks, they were anchored in the creek to have them stay at fixed positions.

  • Flamingo Flock

    As a continuation of my project of bringing radioactive ducks to europe, i started to build radioactive flamingos for new york.

    They containt electronics from a solar garden light, so they charge during the day, and start glowing their eyes at night. Here in the US, the flamingos are the equivalent to the projects with plastic ducks in germany, people put them in their yard, as there are no real animals to adore.

     

     
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  • Flux Star

    On the roof of Flux Factory, I installed a temporary light installation, called ‘Flux Star’. It is a solar powered reference to graffiti, where painting a star out of 4 or 8 simple lines was established to be put on walls trough out the city.

    Most parts come from a solar powered string light, which I bought and took apart to harvest LEDs and the main unit featuring a solar panel, a battery and the electronic parts to drive the LEDs. The circuit is quite similar to those used in the ducks, but more powerful.

    IMG_0644

    IMG_0701

  • INYOURFACE:GREEN

    INYOURFACE:GREEN is my secondary main project for my studies at KHM, and will be exhibited in the upcoming students presentation at KHM (Academy for Media Arts, Cologne.)

    inyourface-jahresausstellung

    It consists of a wooden frame with a diffusion panel, behind there are 90 LEDs of 1 Watt each. The light output is nearly 45.000 candela which fills its surroundings with monochromatic green. After about 20 to 30 seconds the (adaptive) perception of human beings has changed its illuminant, and as soon as one walks away from the green light they will notice a distinct pink tint everywhere.

    Many thanks to Guillermo Heinze for setup and taking pictures.

  • Julius @ Flux Factory

    From first of july on, i will be living and working in New York as an artist in residency with Flux Factory (http://www.fluxfactory.org/)

    mainzer

    In the next four month, there will be new projects coming out, thought of and produced here in the factory.

  • Radioactive Duck 2

    Another duck was released into freedom today. This one has green eyes and can be visited at the Media Park pond, best view is from the bridge. It charges during the day and glows at night.

    Two questions get asked often: No, i do not have permission, but i am quite sure that i do not need one. And i do not fear that ducks get removed or stolen, since they cost (without work) about 9 euro each.

    Edit (June 29.): The Duck has been removed. I do not know who took it, or what happend to it… So i have to built even more!

    Second of the family

  • Radioactive Duck

    the radioactive duck

     

    The radioactive duck can be visited was at Aachener Weiher, Cologne. It is located across from japanese institute.

    During the day, a solar panel on the back of the duck charges a small battery inside the duck. With sunset, the eyes of the duck begin to glare in red color. The duck dropped anchor, so it will stay at its place unless some one takes it…

  • Protozoa Sphaerae Lucere

    “Protozoa Sphaerae Lucere”, my proposal for an art work in public space, came up second in a call by the french-german insurance company AXA. It is a LED driven light installation, consisting of thirty spheres floating on a pond. Each is equiped with environemental sensors to react to its surrounding, the whole system is solar powered by an external solar field.

    Many thanks to Peter Schuster and Martin Nawrath from KHM, which supported me through the planing!

    A PDF (in german) is available: Protozoa Sphaerae Lucere

  • Schmiedel @ Particle Riot

    Die für Particle Riot konzipierte Licht/Sound/Videoinstallation von Julius Schmiedel deckt auf, was lange unbekannt war: Quer durch den Malkasten verläuft ein Bahntunnel, auf dem regelmäßiger Zugverkehr herrscht. Durch spezielle Projektion und Eingriffen in die Licht- und Tonanlage kann dieses Phänomen nun erstmalig sichtbar gemacht werden. Bitte verlassen Sie nicht den Saal, wenn der Zug einfährt.