cyber|glow is a light installation, generated in real time based on the interactions of the visitors. It reveals the invisible and live software traces that operate an interactive game. cyber|glow enchants visitors with a large-scale multi-player game where they learn about Nobel discoveries. cyber|glow reveals the intangible layers of code and data that run the game, through a generative laser projection.

cyber|glow is a diptych.
One part is a multi-player, interactive game. The visitors can select a laureate and control its movement on a large wall, through their phone. By picking their favorite Nobel laureate and moving their avatar around on a projection, the visitors will create an illusory mingle with some of the top scientists of all time. Users also learn more about the scientific discovery that earned their laureate their prize.

Another part of cyber|glow is a real-time observation and visualization system producing the laser movements that create the light art projection. This projection reveals the invisible game events, database accesses, systems calls, network events and function calls that operate at high frequency to deliver the game.

Software is the core medium that fuels our digital society, providing services to citizens, governments, activists and corporations. It is an invisible and intangible set of processes that run millions of operations per second, on top of world-wide networks. With cyber|glow, we wish to unveil these invisible processes and let citizens realize the extraordinary scale of software that surrounds them.

The research that this installation is based on was developed through WASP, a program supported by the Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse