Daniel Rozin, ITP Faculty Member, has Mechanical Mirrors Featured at The Exploratorium

ITP Faculty Member Daniel Rozin's mechanical mirrors are featured in an exhibit at The Exploratorium in San Francisco called Glow: Discover the Art of Light. Visit the museum to see them for yourself!

RBG Lights Mirror, pictured above, uses rotational motion to produce images using the additive color model—red, green, and blue light. The aluminum knobs are programmed to rotate toward or away from a colored light. Each knob is a “pixel” that moves independently, and its rotation influences its reflected color. Vivid lights combined with the glow of the rotating knobs create a 3D illusion and highly saturated images. 

This is the latest kinetic sculpture in Rozin’s Mechanical Mirror series in which he investigates viewer participation and image creation by means of reflection. 

This artwork uses only a single candle as its light source. The light from the candle is manipulated through 278 motor-mounted 3D printed lenses, which move independently.

The piece has two modes of operation: an interactive mode where the viewer is reflected, and a mode where various programmed animations take over the display. Whether activated by a person or a machine, the result is dynamic.

This sculptural, interactive artwork from Rozin’s Mechanical Mirrors series produces full-color reflections. The subtractive color model—cyan, magenta, yellow—is used to filter out light that would otherwise be reflected as white. 

The artwork is made from over 1,500 acrylic colored paddles, embedded lights, and a 3D camera. Each paddle is a “pixel” that moves independently and its rotation influences its reflected color. The piece has two modes of operation: an interactive mode where the viewer is reflected, and a mode where various programmed animations take over the display. Whether activated by a person or a machine, the result is dynamic.

Employing various materials—wood, trash, acrylic, steel, pompoms—Daniel Rozin explores what constitutes an image, and what can be transformed into one. He creates artworks that have the unique ability to change and respond to the presence of the viewer. Sometimes the viewer is the content, other times the viewer is invited to help create the image. Rozin has exhibited his work worldwide and won numerous awards. He is an Arts Professor in the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University’s Tisch School of The Arts.