Premiering at the 2018 Light City Baltimore festival, Sun Stomp was a solar powered light and interactive audio-visual environment that for eight nights activated McKeldin Square. The monumental scaffolding sculpture featured an interactive projection on one side and an array of sixteen 290 watt solar panels on the other. Electrical energy collected during the day and was stored as chemical energy in a battery bank which provided electricity to a colorful array of LED neon lights illuminating the structure after dark. Participants were invited to stomp on the bleacher footboards to trigger sun-inspired visuals and amplified sounds of the Sun sourced from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. Passersby were also invited to peer into the custom built “Power Shed” to learn about the solar technology and AV controls energizing the project. Foot-stomping powers combined, participants visually and experientially conjured the awesome and beautiful power of the sun.
Solar and Storage Statistics
- Sun Stomp featured 527 feet of LED lighting.
- All 16 solar panels provided 4,640 Watts per sun hour or 23,200 Watts per day in April.
- The average home in Baltimore uses 7,546 kilowatts per year; the same amount of electricity produced by these 16 solar panels and stored by the battery bank.
- The 16 solar panels installed on a home would save $1,052 annually in electricity charges.
- During Light City the Sun Stomp solar panels will prevented 200 pounds of CO2 emissions from local electricity generation.
About the Sun Stomp Collective
The Baltimore-based Sun Stomp Collective brings expertise in solar energy, interactive media, and participatory environments. Matthew Weaver has over a decade of experience in renewable energy engineering, including hydrogen and solar; and grassroots organizing around social justice and sustainability. Mark Brown is a video artist, DJ, curator, and AV expert at the Peabody Conservatory. His video work embraces the Internet as both gallery and medium, creating new works from the cracks, glitches, and fall-out of digital realities. Graham Coreil-Allen is a public artist and organizer making cities more inclusive and livable through public art, radical walking tours, and civic engagement.
Follow Sun Stomp as it reignites at festivals around the world: http://sunstomp.art
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Sun Stomp Twitter: https://twitter.com/sunstomp24 @sunstomp24
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