Note: This project is no longer active.
Return to Ritherdon Overview
Before I describe what 'Light Meter' and 'Return to Ritherdon' are, I
though it would be best to give you some extra context surrounding it.
'Return to Ritherdon' was an arts-based two year residency, funded by Arts
Council England. Nicola Ellis devised the residency alongside Ritherdon &
Company Ltd. and Castlefied Gallery. Ritherdon is a manufacturer of metal
enclosures and based in Darwen, Lancashire, U.K., Castlefied is an art gallery
in Manchester, U.K. and Ellis is an artist. She is, also, based in
Manchester. Use the links below for more information on those listed above:
Note: The residency has finished and the information of this page is more for
archive purposes than anything else.
Light Meter
Light Meter is one of three smaller projects which form the 'Personal Flash in
Real-Time' series of artworks. The other two projects are 'Midpoint' and
'Relay'. The 'Personal Flash in Real-Time' artworks are one of numerous artworks
displayed in the 'No Gaps in the Line' (2021) exhibition, hosted in Castlefied
Gallery. For more information on the exhibition, artworks (from the galleries
perspective) and other projects use the following links:
Light Meter is more a device than a software program -- which deviates from my
usual stuff in this section. The aim of the Light Meters (devices) is to take
light readings from the welding booths in Ritherdon and send them to Midpoint
(running on a server in 'cloud'). These readings are then used by the Relays
(devices) in the gallery. I paired each Light Meter (device) to a specific Relay
(device), so 'Relay One' only dealt with the light reading taken by 'Light Meter
One'.
'Personal Flash in Real-Time' is one of numerous artworks produced
during the 'Return to Ritherdon' residency.
Each Light Meter was paired to a Relay via Midpoint.
Unfortunately, the repository this page links to includes only the software and
the 3D models (for printing). You will need to buy a Raspberry Pi and other
electronic hardware yourself if you want/need to recreate this project. To help
with this, I've created a Git repository which contains a more comprehensive
rundown of the project's spec's and requirements at the links below:
I wrote the software in Python and tested it on Raspberry Pi OS (formerly
Raspbian). The project, also, assumes access to the I/O library for the Pi's
GPIO pins. Because of this, I don't know if the code will run on anything else.
Links Collection
Below is a list of all the links dotted throughout this page: