CODE

Completion: 2012, Top 5 Artist Shortlist

Location: Halifax Central Library, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Description: CODE is a participatory artwork that reinterprets the functional image of the barcode into a playful, sculptural gesture. The work features vibrantly colored glass bars, vertically embedded into the library's prominent east wall. This chromatic light sculpture evokes a barcode pattern with stripes of bold color, inspired by Halifax’s brightly painted architecture.

The sculpture generates a continually changing, real-time visualization of the library's every day flow, both in terms of the flow of information and the movement of visitors throughout the space of the library itself. LED lights behind each bar are networked with the library's computer system and programmed to continually fade in and out to suggest the barcode patterns of recently checked out books. As visitors walk past the wall sculpture, motion sensors enable the individual bars of colored glass illuminate to follow the movement of passersby.

The work can be appreciated both as an abstract work of art, and as a participatory work that resonates with the public role of the Halifax Central Library. CODE expresses the vibrant diversity of an open and inclusive society.

Architect: METALAB