Visual System's UT Truckshop: A Mobile, Reactive Light Sculpture

"Light is amazing, because with light you can work on imagination, on space, on feelings, and it opens a lot of doors for creation." So say French collective Visual System in the video above when talking about their piece UT Truckshop,pairing up with UNIQLO to create a reactive, mobile performance stage for their UT Truck project—a series of pop-up shopping and performances in NYC in April 2013.

The design took inspiration from Japanese Dekotora trucks, which are heavily decorated trucks stacked full of neon and UV lights, crazy paintwork, and shiny stainless steel. For Visual System's truck they created strips of LEDs and made them interactive so people could play around and change the patterns, colors, animations, and designs of the lights using an Ultrabook. Along with being reactive to music too.

With all these interactive lights on and music blaring out, it's not surprising people were astonished when they saw it popping up at various places around New York, stopping to gawp, take photos, before having a go at controlling the animations. "The way they look at the truck, it's like an alien in the middle of the city." notes Visual System.

Check out some stills of the truck in action below and watch our video above for more about the project.