Virtual Sky

VIRTUAL SKY is conceived as a synergy of fixed and fluid elements, a layering of form and light and of moments captured in real-time. Here, the beauty and changeability of the Oklahoma Sky is re-conceptualized through technology.



The suspended structure spans the two glass public atriums. Within each, anodized titanium forms create a palette inspired by the sky’s subtle shifts of color throughout the day and season. Their reflective surfaces respond to light and shadow from the surrounding environment. Within this field of color, a grid of 60,000 points of light connected to a stream of Oklahoma City Data Portals trace weather patterns in realtime. Together, the suspended titanium and light structure creates an immersive visual experience, a digital simulacra that parallels the complexity of the ongoing natural phenomena of the vast, changeable, majestic sky that is so much a part of this city.



Virtual Sky evolves in tandem with the environment itself. As weather data is analyzed and translated into patterns of light, real-time shifts in movement and color reflect upon the natural world. These dynamic layers bring an immediacy to the work and the opportunity for public engagement and discovery. The elusive nature of the reflective titanium and dynamic light creates and ever-changing three dimensional color field. as one’s perspective shifts. It brings the sky into the atriums to animate the public spaces.



In the evening, the animated movement of color is experienced from within the Convention Center, from the downtown streetscape and from the large public park beyond. The region’s invisible layers of data become the means to activate the public spaces through the powerful and yet ephemeral language of light. This project seeks to give that shared experience a new expression, to create a new common language for this city on a plain under a vast sky.



Virtual Sky can also be explored through its Augmented Reality app which gives the viewer an in-depth behind the scenes look of the installation and the climate data that drives it in real time.