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The Joys of Colour, Technology and Light - Part 1: Story Behind the Artwork

Welcome to TechxArtisan, a creative technology studio based in Guangzhou! Back in January 2021, we found ourselves stepping deeper into the New Media Art scene, collaborating with artists who were doing some truly exciting work. These collaborations introduced us to technologies like machine learning, computer vision, and 3D printing—tech that was being explored in educational institutions across China.

It was still the first year of the pandemic, and many exhibitions were being cancelled. Despite the challenges, this unexpected downtime gave us a chance to experiment with new ideas, like LED control and object detection. But the real turning point came when I came across Dave Bramston’s work.

Dave had been creating lighting artworks from waste plastic to promote a zero-waste lifestyle in Guangzhou, and I saw a few of his posts on WeChat (the most popular platform here in China). I was immediately hooked. I reached out, and our conversation on WeChat was the beginning of a truly rewarding collaboration.

Dave Bramston’s artworks

Dave Bramston’s artworks.

Before the pandemic, Dave was already well-known for his work—having delivered over 100 design workshops and creative lectures in China. His studio, Bramston Studio, focuses on fostering original thinking and creative inspiration. It was clear to me that this was the perfect person to team up with for a new project.

One of several video meetings with Dave Bramston

One of several video meetings with Dave Bramston.

Even though international travel was off the table, we didn’t let that stop us. Our teams met via video calls, and the brainstorming began. We were excited about how we could merge interactive technology with Dave’s artistic vision, and that’s how ‘Coloured Towers’ came to life. This piece was designed to detect the colours of people’s clothing and respond by changing the LED colours, creating a vibrant and interactive light display.

The draft of the concept design

The draft of the concept design.

Originally, Dave wanted the towers to respond to people’s hats. But after some thought, I tweaked the algorithm to focus on detecting the colours of people’s clothing instead. Hats are a bit out of fashion these days—or maybe they’re still big in England? Perhaps in a Downton Abbey kind of way?

We soon began building the equipment in China, carefully designing and assembling the LED strips and controllers. After a bit of testing, we shipped everything off to the UK.

LED Controllers have our specially designed, UK-flag-shaped, 3D-printed cover case.

LED Controllers with our specially designed, UK-flag-shaped, 3D-printed cover case.

With the tech side handled, Dave worked his magic with fabrics, transforming these electrical components into beautiful light-based artworks.

Pictures of light stands in development

Pictures of light stands in development.

As the project evolved, Dave decided to scale it up for an exhibition he was curating at The Bowes Museum in the summer of 2022. Our studio couldn’t have been more thrilled! We envisioned these towering LED installations—each around 5 metres tall—lighting up the museum in stunning displays of colour.

Light Tower Design

After a month of building and testing in China, we sent everything over to the UK in March 2022. Here’s a sneak peek of some final testing at our studio before shipment:

LED-install-1 LED-install-2

A final test at TechxArtisan studio, China, before shipment to the UK.

Once everything arrived safely in the UK, Dave and his team, along with the staff at The Bowes Museum, got to work installing the lights. Seeing the collaboration come to life from afar was such a fulfilling experience.

LED-install-3

Meeting with the Bramston Studio and Bowes Museum teams remotely to kick off the installation.

LED-install-4

The Museum team installing LED strips in the exhibition gallery.

LED-install-5

Can you spot me in this picture?

The exhibition, Journey in Colour, officially opened on 18 June and runs until 30 October. I must admit, my only real disappointment was not being able to attend the opening in person. However, seeing photos of visitors enjoying the final installation has been just as rewarding.

show-1 show-2

I’m immensely grateful to the photographer who captured these moments, and to Dave for inviting me to be part of this incredible collaboration. Although I haven’t met the Bramston Studio or Museum teams in person yet, I’m already looking forward to more creative projects together in the future—whether in China or the UK.

If you’d like to dive into the more technical aspects of this project, be sure to check out my next post:

The Joys of Colour, Technology and Light – Part 2: Technical Challenges and Experiments

The Joys of Colour, Technology and Light - Part 2: Technical Challenges and Experiments

In this post, we dive into the technical side of building the 4-metre-tall LED towers for British artist Dave Bramston. If you're curious about the creative backstory behind this collaboration and how we worked together to create the Coloured Towers during the pandemic for The Bowes Museum in the UK, check out Part 1: Story Behind the Artwork.

When it came to realising this art installation, there were several technical hurdles we needed to overcome at TechxArtisan. The essential hardware we used included Nvidia’s Jetson Nano—a low-power, GPU-backed microcomputer perfect for running AI algorithms—and the ESP32, a widely used microcontroller unit (MCU) that effectively manages communication between the host computer and LED light units using the FastLED library.

Here’s a brief overview of the process: 1. AI algorithms on the Jetson Nano detect the clothes people are wearing via a camera. 2. K-means clustering is used to extract the dominant colour of their clothes. 3. The extracted RGB values are sent to the ESP32, which controls the LED strips attached to the artwork.

How to achieve it technically

The technical process.

Now, let’s break down some of the most interesting technical challenges we encountered.

Detecting Clothes with Nvidia Jetson Nano

The Jetson Nano allowed us to run open-source AI models trained to detect human clothing. The process involves capturing each image frame from a camera, dividing it into a matrix of 10x16 grids, and running a model to identify which grids match our target—clothes, in this case. Although the model is designed to detect a range of objects, including those on the MHP Class list, we specifically used it for clothes detection.

Translating Colours Between Reality and Digital

Human vision perceives colour through reflected light, but machines “see” colours by capturing images and converting them into digital codes. Here’s where the tricky part comes in—cameras don’t always capture colours accurately due to factors like lighting, focus, white balance, and exposure settings. We aimed to bridge this gap and capture colours as close to reality as possible.

colour checker board

Using a colour checker board to align digital colours with reality.

Once the machine detects a colour, we apply k-means clustering to extract the dominant colour from the clothes. These RGB values are then averaged and sent to the LED controller.

LED Colours and the RGB Problem

The LED light strips (ws281x series) we used can mix red, green, and blue (RGB) channels to create a wide range of colours. But there are some limitations: - LED lights struggle to represent greys and blacks if a visitor’s clothes are dark. The LEDs simply reduce overall brightness. - Our ws281x strips tend to skew slightly blue, which meant we had to fine-tune the colour balance in software to get the shades just right.

teammate testing

Testing the stability of the colour detection programme.

There’s also an interesting feedback loop in play: when the machine detects the colour of someone’s clothes, it projects a corresponding LED light colour, which in turn enhances the clothes' original hue. This creates a dynamic, iterative process that makes the interaction more fun, especially with multiple participants wearing different colours.

Powering All Those LED Strips

Lighting up that many LED strips safely and efficiently was no small feat. Each of the four pillars required careful power calculations to ensure the system could handle the load without any issues. Here’s a quick breakdown:

For each pillar: - 24 LED strips × 4 metres per strip = 96 metres of LEDs per pillar - 96 metres × 60 LEDs per metre = 5,760 LEDs - Each strip uses 4 amps at full power (white light) - So, 24 strips × 4 amps = 96 amps required for one pillar - 96 amps × 12V = 1,152W per pillar

This adds up to around 4,600W when all four pillars are powered at full intensity. However, most of the light animations we created consume significantly less power, since we rarely use full white light. Nevertheless, building in some redundancy ensures the system remains safe and stable.

Connecting the power

Carefully connecting the power supply.

For the technically inclined, here's a snippet from our FastLED code: 

const uint8_t kMatrixWidth = 12;
const uint8_t kMatrixHeight = 80;
This allowed us to control 12 x 80 = 960 pixels per pillar.

Final Thoughts

For more in-depth technical insights, check out my post in the FastLED community on Reddit. I’d like to give a shout-out to Quindor and Charles Goodwin for their support and upvotes. Collaborating with Dave Bramston and The Bowes Museum has been an incredibly fulfilling experience, and we’re eager to continue pushing the boundaries of art and technology.

If you’re working on a similar project or are just curious about this type of installation, feel free to reach out—we’re always happy to share our knowledge and learn from others in the community.

Thanks for reading!