airFIELD’s Animated Performance of Flight Paths

The airFIELD is a dynamic Liquid Crystal sculpture synced to real-time flight data that reflects the heartbeat of the world’s busiest hub, the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Each flight that lands or takes off from this airport activates the visual behavior of the sculpture. Planes traveling a short distance create small ripples in the sculpture while planes traveling a longer distance cause greater activity. The airFIELD was concieved of and designed by artists Jamie Barlow, Dan Goods, and Nik Hafermaas, and produced by UEBERSEE, an artists production platform specializing in the convergence of digital media with spatial experiences.

airFIELD combines 1,500 10-inch discs made of liquid crystal, 3,000 wires, 81 circuit boards, open-source C++ software, and live-streaming data from FlightAware. The flowing movement that you see is actually an illusion. When triggered, the discs turn opaque to translucent according to sequenced data and electrical charges — animating the trajectories made by airplanes taking off and landing at the airport. airFIELD captures the pulse of over 2,700 daily arrivals and departures. It was commissioned by The Airport Art Program as a permanent installation in the International Terminal of Concourse F.

Check out the project website or read about it on HOW Interactive Design.

Credit: Photos and video by Dan Goods.