DIGITAL UP MAGAZINE LIGHT Prana project, an in-situ light installation, was designed by B-Reel’s art director Mike Potter. The idea behind the concept is to explore the relationship between light and breathing. The word Prana is in Sanskrit, and it stands for »life force« or vital principle. B-Reel created a suspended room-sized sphere installation 12 feet in diameter that counted 13,221 LED lights inside and 5,422 feet of acrylic tubing. The audience wasn’t meant to be passive observers, but encouraged to take part and make the light installation work. “With the viewer in the center, the sphere lights up with each inhalation, uniting the piece and the participant.” The engineering behind the light installation was conducted by a Xethru radar sensor that detects breath. A custom made computer, which was connected with the installation, then code triggered color shifts and animations that made it appear as if the sphere was breathing with participants. Prana project was exhibited in the Fridman Gallery in downtown New York, and was a centerpiece for talks, performances and other events which took place at the gallery. The light installation initiated further discussions on humans, technology, and the environment. www.b-reel.com/projects/prana DigitalUP [ 97 ]