Greetings, ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to present you with the latest large-scale light-scape art from Spaceport Studio....

the winner of the People's Choice Award in Edmonton's first IllumiNITE design competition....

the RotoGoboScope

a Light + Motion Sculpture

What is this RotoGoboScope?

The RotoGoboScope is an innovative lantern that combines colourful LED lights with rotating mechanisms to produce a fantastic moving light-scape of patterned dots. It features custom electronics built into refurbished coffee cans, which are mounted onto a tower made of re-used metal scrap, such as old bike wheel rims and laundry machine drums.

What does the name mean?

Well, “Roto” is for rotating. “Gobo” is short for “Go-Between”, and refers to an object that is placed in front of a light source to control the shape of the light emitted. And “Scope” is like in kaleidoscope, a device that creates colourful moving patterns.

Check out this awesome video of the RotoGoboScope in action :

What is it made of?

It is composed of approximately 95% refurbished metal scrap, plus some custom-built electronics.

The refurbished scrap components include :

- 6 bicycle wheel rims – from the Edmonton Bicycle Comuters

- steel EMT pipe – from a large outdoor tent

- a laundry machine drum

- a clothing display stand

- 3 coffee cans

- hard-drive platters – from old computers

The rest of the parts are :

- 9 1-Watt LED’s – red, white, yellow, and green

- 3 rotating gear-motors

- various electrical components – drivers, transformers, connectors and wires

- 1m steel tube and shaft

It runs on regular household electrical current (110V AC) or a 12V DC battery.

Who made it?

The RotoGoboScope was designed and handcrafted by Dylan Toymaker, an innovative multi-media artist from Spaceport Studio. The design is a creative extention of his current work with the Can-O-Lantern series of decorative LED lamps. He has been creating LED lamps with re-used materials for the last 10 years.

Dylan originally built the RotoGoboScope for IllumiNITE – an outdoor light design competition organized by Edmonton on the Edge. It was installed outside for a night, in the park behind Sobey’s on Jasper Ave. The nook it got tucked into was awkward, but the reception was excellent – the RotoGoboScope captured the delight of its viewers, and won the People’s Choice award!

Where is it now?

Good news – this amazing lantern is currently on display at the Cool Stuff Exhibit! You can find it at the University of Alberta Museum in Enterprise Square (10230 Jasper Ave) from March 22nd – March31st, along with the other lights that were entered into the IllumiNITE contest.

Want one?

For now, the RotoGoboScope is the only one of it's kind, and is available to rent for special events. If you would love to have a piece like this of your very own, you can comission another one to be built. Please contact us for more details about rentals or comissions.