Summary

The Remote Winds art installation translates wind into light. This project connects visitors to the new McMurtry Building on the Stanford campus with the daily rhythm of air currents flowing off the Pacific, over the northern reaches of the Santa Cruz Mountains and San Francisco Bay. 

The work exists in two locations. An array of 60 sensors attached to wind vanes installed at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve transmit hundreds of wind speed and direction readings every second to a cloud server via the preserve's outdoor wireless mesh network. The data is instantly relayed to the installation at the Moghadam Family Gallery Arcade in the new McMurtry Building on the Stanford campus. 

Within the gallery, a 54 x 19 foot wall is filled with constantly shifting light. Projected beams of light move in sync with the wind sensors at the preserve, enacting minute changes recorded on the terrain of the 525 square foot field observation site at Jasper Ridge. 

The gallery serves as a remote canvas, giving viewers insight into the atmospheric dynamics of the Bay, as well as the microclimate of Jasper Ridge. 

Keener and Chapman are graduate students in art practice and atmospheric science respectively.

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Light beams projecting wind sensor readings at Moghadam Family Gallery Arcade on Stanford campus

Project Location (Sector 21)

Useful Links

Cy Keener's personal web site

Visible from Trail/Road

C - Lower Fire Road