We created a series of interactive games, generative software installations and a cube made of 13,824 LEDs.

A short film by Squint Opera showing all the exhibits.

The City Icon


The City Icon is a generative artwork which takes center stage in the exhibition space. It demonstrates the ebb and flow of the various qualities of a city, including energy, water, safety and security, health care, the environment and transportation. This 6 meter tall obelisk is visible from outside The Crystal, and hints at the various topics dealt with in the exhibition.

The Cube

Z4-E6 City Shapes from Hirsch & Mann on Vimeo.

The Cube is a 3D display used to visualize city density information. It plays back a 3D video which takes viewers on a journey to understand the various causes and effects that change the shape of cities around the world.

Prevent Fires


Prevent Fires is an interactive game that teaches users about the correct approach to Fire Safety.

The City Monitor


The City Monitor demonstrates a way for mayors to review and manage city scale challenges.

The Crystal exhibition space

Client: Siemens
Produced by: Event Communications
In collaboration with: Squint Opera

Hirsch&Mann team:
Daniel Hirschmann
Marcin Ignac
George Profenza
Cristian Baluti
Tom Sloan
Mike Harrison

Process images and videos:

SUSC City Icon – Testing of the LED screen from Hirsch & Mann on Vimeo.

Siemens CityIcon LED screen close up from Hirsch & Mann on Vimeo.

Christiane’s vision was around an old school denim jacket which would be the perfect attire at a rock concert. We were both excited about the DIY nature of this era, and decided to create bespoke LED covered circuit boards that could be attached to the jacket – in much the same way as jackets like this would be decorated in the past. Applying them to the outfit like studs and other accessories. Her fashion design work is very hands on, and we aimed to maintain this aesthetic with the electronics – exposing a lot of the supporting circuitry.

All of this was connected to software which was written in Processing (Source will be shared soon). Our software was built to easily assign a specific frequency and amplitude range from a sound source to each LED element. We were able to very quickly test and iterate improvements to the LED controls with this software.

A video about the project can be seen here:

Hirsch&Mann Team:
Daniel Hirschmann
Katrin Baumgarten
George Profenza
Andrew Knott

Our aim was to activate the store and bring it life every time someone chose a Red Stripe from the refrigerator. We used the track “A message to you Rudy” by Dandy Livingstone, as a nod to the Jamaican heritage of Red Stripe.
Download the press release here and High resolution photos from here.

And the making of video…

The musical arrangement created by the various instruments. Each of the individual track elements were used to trigger the motors, solenoids, and lighting.

Each of the instruments in all of their glory

Client: Red Stripe
Director: Greg Brunkalla
Producer: Sting Digital
Agency: KK Outlet

Hirsch&Mann Team:
Daniel Hirschmann
Katrin Baumgarten
George Profenza

Musical arrangement:
Asa Bennett

Huge thanks to the whole Hirsch&Mann + Technology Will Save Us teams for all their support during the build and installation. (Kirsty, Andrew, Matthew, Mike, Chris & Tom)

This installation was intended to showcase a particular set of shoes that can detect the vertical lift of a person’s jump. Perfect for dunking a basketball! Hirsch&Mann was asked to build the jump detection system and generative visuals based on these jumps. We were able to produce all of this within one week after client sign off. We do love a challenge!

Client: Nike
Producer: Optimist LA
Architecture & design: Tino Schaedler
Electronic backend: Vista Electronics

Hirsch&Mann Team:
Daniel Hirschmann ( Creative Director )
Marcin Ignac ( Programming & Installation )
Carolina Vallejo ( Producer )

We were asked to create a series of exhibits which demonstrated and recognized the progress in computing while at the same time representing a spirit of engineering and innovation. To achieve this, Hirsch&Mann worked in collaboration with the very talented teams at The Cross Kings and Technology Will Save Us.

We created three installations which each represented a programming principle: looping, variables, and conditionals. At the heart of each of these exhibits is an Arduino – an open source hardware platform which is incredibly accessible and has a growing community of contributors.

Each exhibit has the following:
- A display area to see the results of the program unfold.
- A console area where each of the programs can be interacted with.
- A code display area – which when activated, steps through the code events to help explain how the programming principles work.

Turing Interactives at the London Science Museum 2012 from Hirsch & Mann on Vimeo.

Looping is the act of carrying out a set of instructions again and again and again. The instructions are the same but the details inside those instructions may differ. As soon as you get to the end of the instructions, simply return to the top and start again. A real world analogy for this would be a shopping list – which you re-use every week.

The exhibit consisted of a wheel that repeatedly spins around – representing the loop. The wheel has a single spinning dial which has a strip of 60 RGB LED’s on it. Outside the wheel are 5 dividing lines – like slices in a pie. On the console are 5 rows of 6 switches. Each row represents one of the slices of the pie, and each switch represents a section of LED’s that can be turned on or off.

Visitors are invited to use these switches to control which LEDs are on and off in each slice of the pie – giving visitors the ability to create very simple and very complex patterns with just 30 switches. The arm spins around fast enough to leave a persistence of vision trail thus creating ‘ light images’ using the visitors inputs. The idea is that the loop is repeated forever, but this allows for simple and complex emergent behaviours.

Variables are containers for values – like a cup can hold a certain amount of water, so can a variable hold a certain amount of its value! A variable can be used throughout a program – it can be updated, checked, reset etc. They are a way to ‘clone’ and share a value within a program.

Visitors are introduced to the concept of variables through a physical tree like sculpture. The tree is built up from repeated instances of branching arms resulting in a tree with 30 branches. Each branch has a changeable angle which is the variable.

Visitors are invited to change the angles of the branches by using 4 sliders on the console. When changed, these variables have a dramatic physical impact on the overall shape of the tree sculpture.

A conditional statement in a program checks to see whether a condition that you have set is true or false. If its true, then it will perform the operation you have specified. If false, it can be set to perform another action, or simply be ignored. Conditional statements help programs make decisions based on various inputs and outputs. They help to define the brains of a system by creating rule based behaviour.

Visitors will be introduced to the concept of conditionals through a selection of IF/THEN statements. A large pixel display grid will present a series of 4 IF conditions and 4 THEN results. The conditions are pre-set and the results are all selected by visitors.

The resulting image will be drawn slowly as each pixel responds to the IF/THEN statements. Depending on what visitors have set to be the outcome of the various conditions, the pattern will change over time. The system is based on a modified Wolfram cellular automata which only has 4 possible outcomes. The pattern is drawn by a row of pixels based on the states of the two ‘parent’ pixels above it.

Hirsch&Mann Team:

Daniel Hirschmann (Creative Direction, Programming)
Katrin Baumgarten (Mechanical Engineering)

Collaborators:
Technology Will Save Us
The Cross Kings

Exhibition design:
Nissen Richards Studio

Thanks to:
WhiteWing Logic
Agency of Design
The Science Museum curatorial & new media team

Process photos

The iconic Spaghetti Warehouse, in downtown Austin, Texas, was taken over and completely redesigned by Tino Schaedler. Part of this design was a bespoke LED wall that felt like being inside of the FuelBand. We developed a bespoke software system which allowed for flexible uses of the space: It functioned as a retail space during the day with ambient visuals; and as a music venue in the evening when a VJ could control the generative graphics.

Our creative approach was to link the energy, activity and excitement of the space with the colour gradient of the Nike FuelBand. During events, the LED colour gradient started with a dim red, and increased in brightness and hue over time towards yellow and then green. By the end of the performance, the interior reached its vibrant climax with the crowds movement effecting the energy that drives the LED animations.

Client: Nike
Producer: Optimist LA
Interior architecture & design: Tino Schaedler

Hirsch&Mann Team:
Daniel Hirschmann (Creative Director / Software prototyping)
Jason Walters (Programming / VJ)

Our solution was a carefully embedded LCD which transformed the box into a more playful and useful object. It also allowed us to bring the rich content inside of the box to the outside.

The orientation of the box controls what the screen presents – whether its time, time and text, or text and images. We also made sure that the content could be easily updated by the owner of the box. We did this by using a Micro SD card interface that allows the owners to add their own bitmap images to the screen.

We wanted to make sure that the box was powered in a more sustainable and energy-intelligent way. So we chose to use a single USB rechargeable AA battery – very easy to remove, recharge and replace!

A collaboration between Hirsch&Mann and W.I.R.E.

Thanks to:
White Wing Logic
The Cross Kings

The way it works is simple: If you want to send out a tweet about the latest piping hot bloomers, simply spin the dial until it displays ‘Bloomers’, and press the button. BakerTweet handles the rest! In order to update the tweets and the products, simply log into the content management system, make all the changes you want, and select the Update option on BakerTweet and it will download the latest product list from the server.

Hirsch & Mann worked closely with Poke to develop the next version of this wonderful product – a completely re-engineered version inside and out – resulting in a smaller form factor, more reliable circuitry and extended Wifi range.

BakerTweet 1.5 was shown in the Talk To Me show at MOMA in New York.

BakerTweet v1.5 Demo from Hirsch & Mann on Vimeo.

The original BakerTweet concept video

BakerTweet from POKE on Vimeo.

It has been iteratively developed since 2007 and has been used in a multitude of projects. Ranging from the temporary art installation to the permanently installed design piece. The versatility of the Super DMX Shield never ceases to amaze us!

We are often found using it as the basis of our DMX classes with Technology Will Save Us and Openlab Workshops.

For purchasing enquiries, please get in touch.

Hirsch & Mann was invited to collaborate on this magical project over the 2010 festive season. We built an interactive Snowflake Chandelier at TBWA’s Whitfield St Headquarters in London. All the snowflakes were hand crafted and included embedded LEDs which came alive with waves of shimmering light as people walked beneath.

This project was a collaboration between ourselves, TBWA, PostSpectacular and Kathryn Jackson . Video edited by Gabriele Caru.

Make A Snowflake Yours from Hirsch & Mann on Vimeo.