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As We Are

FEATURE

his is As We Are, a 14-foot tall

interactive sculpture imagined by

Matthew Mohr and built by DCL, a

Boston-based company, specialising

in fabricating really cool things.

It’s built out of layers of contoured

aluminium, covered in custom SANSI

LED modules, comprising 850 000 individual LEDs.

In the back of the head there’s a photo booth, with

32 Raspberry Pis and Camera Modules, controlled

by custom facial recognition software that finds your

face, flattens it, and maps it onto the LEDs on the

exterior of the sculpture, making your face twice as

high as André the Giant.

As We Are is located in the Greater Columbus

Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio; it was

inspired when Matthew wanted a project to show

off the diversity of the city.

This struck us as a brilliant project for a couple of

reasons. The first is that it’s a giant version of the

Frank Sidebottom head. The second is that, at its

heart, it’s just some Raspberry Pis, Camera Modules

and LED screens, meaning that it should be possible

to make one of these yourself (OK, a much smaller,

lower resolution one, but technically similar). Go

forth and give it a go.

hsmag.cc/eYjPdW

T

As We Are

Ever wanted to see your face up in lights?

By Andrew Gregory @AndrewGregory83

Right

Every subject in

As We Are is also a

participant – this is

really public art

Right

During the day, the

sculpture faces into

the atrium. At night, it

rotates to face outward

to the street