CTU Faculty of Electrical Engineering student Jakub Dvořák built a stroboscope as part of the two-semester Intermedia Art course. The device can separate light into its individual colours and, when projected onto moving objects, create the illusion of motion being frozen. Dvořák presented his stroboscope at an exhibition of students’ work from the course, held at the Prague Planetarium. Visitors later had another opportunity to see it at the Maker Faire festival.
He will now showcase his work at the sixth edition of Žížafest, which takes place in Žilina, Slovakia, on 18 and 19 September, from 7 pm to 11 pm each evening. Like the better-known Signal Festival, it offers visitors a chance to see light and multimedia installations illuminating the urban environment. This is not the first time the CTU Faculty of Electrical Engineering has appeared at the festival: last year, David Vrbík from the faculty’s Institute of Intermedia brought his installation to the streets of Žilina.
“The stroboscope underwent intensive development over two full semesters. I brought an improved prototype to almost every class until the final design eventually emerged. As it is based entirely on analogue circuits, I was able to draw on knowledge gained from several of my previous courses. Detailed simulations of those circuits were also an integral part of the development process,” explained Jakub Dvořák.
A unique laser string that has even been played at Expo in Japan
This year, David Vrbík from the CTU Faculty of Electrical Engineering’s Institute of Intermedia, who teaches the Intermedia Art course, will instead be heading to the eighth edition of Světlo Valmez, the international festival of light art, taking place in Valašské Meziříčí on 18 September. Through his VEKTROSKOP project, which connects audio signals with visual imagery, visitors will quite literally see sound and hear light. This interactive laser-string installation interprets the surrounding space in an abstract way and invites visitors themselves to help shape its final sound and visual form.
David Vrbík is an audiovisual artist, composer and innovator specialising in the fusion of technology, sound and laser projection. He developed the laser string, which was played last summer at Expo in Osaka, Japan, as well as at the second Faculty Electro Waltz—the CTU Faculty of Electrical Engineering Ball—held in the Empire Hall at Prague’s Slovanský dům, where ball guests were also able to try it for themselves. Visitors to Maker Faire Prague have also had the opportunity to see it.
