Matter, Remembered
Matter, Remembered
Matter, Remembered is a large-scale breathing lamp installation built from recycled duct tape, wooden dowels, and NYC “Thank you” bags. It visualizes the U.S. material footprint from 1970 to 2024, using real-world data to animate light and breath—turning environmental impact into something felt.
To build the lamp, I first wove and melted layers of HDPE plastic bags into a translucent lampshade, carefully preserving the printed graphics to create a surface that holds both memory and light. I embedded an APDS-9960 sensor to let users turn the lamp on or off with a simple hand gesture, making the interaction feel almost ghostlike. Using WS2812B addressable LEDs, I programmed the lamp to “breathe” faster as U.S. material consumption increased—mapped year-by-year with data from the Global Material Flows Database. The base structure, made from collected wooden dowels and heavily reused duct tape, became the physical and emotional foundation of the piece—imperfect, layered, and resilient.
This piece was presented at NYU’s ITP Spring Show 2025. That little book at the base of the lamp? It’s a journal written from the perspective of duct tape. Because if duct tape had feelings, you know it would have a lot to say.
