TIDE

潮息

kinetic sculpture & Data visualization

Statement

A kinetic sculpture that embodies the unseen rhythms of the East River, TIDE makes the tides and winds of New York legible through motion and light.

Material

Custom Software (real-time data acquisition), Single-board Computer, Stepper Motor, SMD LEDs, Power Supply, Timing Belt System, 3D-printed PETG Components, Laser-cut Acrylic Panels, Aluminum Frame, Hardware Fasteners

Dimension

48 × 48 × 15 in. (122 × 122 × 38 cm)

Project Involvement

TIDE was created through a close collaboration between Damon Chen, Elaine Wang, and Christina Tang. Elaine and Damon co-led the conceptual development, physical design, and fabrication of the sculpture, including material research, structural assembly, and kinetic mechanisms. Christina focused on environmental data acquisition, physical computing, and lighting control, developing the systems that connect real-time wind and tide data to the sculpture’s motion and illumination.

Credit

Project Team : Ealine Wang, Damon Chen, Christina Wang
Instructor : Yonatan Rozin, Chika Iijima, Aaron Parsekian

Project DEscription

Overview >

TIDE is a kinetic sculpture that visualizes the rhythmic flow of the East River. Sixteen acrylic panels rise and fall in smooth, sinusoidal motion, synchronized with real-time wind and tidal data collected from Pier 16 and The Battery. As the panels subtly change opacity, TIDE reflects the slow, enduring pulse of nature against the backdrop of a rapidly changing world. This piece invites viewers to contemplate the deeper, often unnoticed patterns that shape our environment.

research/context

Overview >_

The sculpture transforms live wind and tidal data into continuous mechanical movement. Unlike traditional data visualizations, it renders abstract metrics as physical motion, using etched acrylic panels that rise and fall in a steady, wave-like rhythm. Referencing the breath of the East River, the sculpture grounds digital information in material presence, creating a subtle interface between the viewer and the aquatic systems surrounding New York City.

>_

Each panel is edge-lit and arranged in linear sequence, forming an illuminated wave as it moves. Wind data modulates the direction and speed of the sculpture’s motion, while tidal levels gradually influence the rhythm of the full cycle. These two data sources—transitory and cyclical—converge to form a sculpture that "breathes" with its environment.

>_

A week-long time-lapse video, accessible via QR code at the exhibition site, compresses the sculpture’s slow transitions into a five-second sequence. Human viewers become brief blurs in a scene dominated by elemental rhythm—a gesture toward what is lost in the acceleration of modern life.

concept >_

TIDE stems from a shared commitment to environmental awareness and a desire to create tangible interfaces with natural systems. In a city where the subtle forces of wind and water are often overlooked, this piece foregrounds the unnoticed. Installed at Pier 16—a site flooded during Hurricane Sandy and vulnerable to future sea-level rise—TIDE offers an ambient reflection on the long timescales of climate change. Rather than presenting data through charts or alarms, the sculpture moves with the slow grace of the systems it references. It invites viewers to slow down, observe, and feel—making the abstract visible, and the invisible personal.

Inspiration >_

The inspiration for TIDE emerged from the lingering impact of Hurricane Sandy, which profoundly disrupted life in New York and revealed the city's vulnerability to climate extremes. For one of the collaborators, Christina Tang, Hurricane Sandy—over a decade ago—marked a personal turning point. College life was abruptly interrupted, streets were submerged, and the East River breached its boundaries, transforming familiar urban spaces into unstable, waterlogged terrain.
‍

>_

This experience, coupled with a shared concern for climate change, seeded the desire to create a work that visualizes natural forces not through fear, but through quiet persistence. TIDE was shaped by the idea that the most consequential phenomena—tides, wind, erosion—often unfold slowly and invisibly. By translating these patterns into movement and light, the piece serves as a reminder: even subtle shifts, if ignored, can reshape our world.
‍

Visual Motif

Pattern Design >_

The engraved patterns on TIDE’s 16 acrylic panels are inspired by the spiraling eye of a hurricane—a natural formation that embodies both chaos and order, turbulence and stillness. When viewed from a specific frontal angle, these fragmented spiral engravings align into a unified vortex, echoing the illusion of coherence within environmental flux.

>_

Just as the eye of a hurricane is a deceptive center of calm within violent atmospheric forces, TIDE creates a meditative space in the heart of an increasingly unstable climate. The choice of this visual motif reinforces the sculpture’s dialogue between pattern and disruption, balance and overwhelm. It visually compresses vast, dynamic forces—wind, tide, time—into a moment of frozen, fragile equilibrium.

>_

By referencing a hurricane’s structure, the sculpture invites reflection on environmental cycles, climate precarity, and the unseen rhythms that govern our shared world.

Technical Details

LED Operation >_

The LED system in TIDE is controlled using a 24-channel DMX decoder, powered by a 12V DC supply. A computer connected to the DMX decoder via an ENTTEC DMX USB PRO interface handles the lighting control. The system receives commands through OSC (Open Sound Control) messages sent from QLab, an application used for show control, to manage the LED lighting patterns. The Arduino Nano 33 IoT processes these commands and directs the appropriate lighting sequences, creating synchronized visual effects that complement the kinetic movements of the sculpture.

Data Acquisition >_

TIDE obtains data from multiple sources to control the kinetic movement of its acrylic panels. The primary microcontroller, an Arduino Nano 33 IoT, communicates with a Heroku server through HTTP GET requests.

>_

This server aggregates data from several APIs:
1. OpenWeather API: Fetches real-time wind data.
2. NOAA Tide API: Retrieves tide data.

>_

The server processes this information and sends the motor direction and speed to the Arduino Uno via digital pins. The motor encoder ensures precise movement by providing feedback to the system. Additionally, data and timestamps are logged in a Google Sheets document for record-keeping and further analysis.