Vintuitive

Have you tweeted the Rundle Lantern yet?

Last week the Adelaide City Council, together with local innovation agency Fusion opened up the popular inner city car park to the public to use as their own digital canvas with the new Rundle Lantern Twitter project.

How to Send Your Tweet to the Lantern

All you have to do to control the 748 panel LED lighting display is visit the Rundle Lantern website, choose an animation, and then watch the video preview. If you like what you see hit the blue ‘tweet’ button. Alternatively you can send a tweet directly to @rundlelantern with the hashtag of what ever animation you’d like. Currently the list of hashtags are #smile, #cat, #love, #dog, #kiss, #dance, #rainbow, #eat, #heart, #donatelife.

Within a few minutes you’ll receive a tweet letting you know when the animation will appear. Each animation runs for 30 seconds.

By the Community, For the Community

Some of the artwork used in the animations has been developed by local artists and animators. Adelaide Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood points out how the project further fosters community involvement:

“The Rundle Lantern Twitter project combines a creative idea on social engagement with technical innovation. It will brighten that area of the city in the evenings and offer real-time engagement for the community, …

… We’ve been asked before why the lantern is there and how people can create content for it, and now they are able to get involved. This is the first stage of the Twitter project and there’s more to come,” Stephen said.

Artists and developers are encouraged to develop content for the Rundle Lantern. Follow the Lantern on Twitter @RundleLantern and watch out for upcoming workshops and calls to artists.

Old Meets New – History of the Lantern

This was originally the site of the York Hotel, built in 1849 but was replaced by the Grand Central Hotel in 1909.

Some of the most famous guests to the Grand Central Hotel included Mark Twain, Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, and the Kinks. In 1976 the Grand Central was demolished to make way for the multi-story car park that is the Rundle Lantern.

A few years ago an augmented reality app called Lost Adelaide was created that revealed the Grand Central Hotel from yesteryear when the car park is viewed through a smart phone with the app installed.

Here’s a video of the Rundle Lantern launch back in 2008:

“This innovative public art display is not only creatively engaging but will become environmentally inspiring.” – Peter Garrett.

The lantern operates from 6.30pm to 2.30am every night.

Read more about the tweeting the Rundle Lantern at the Rundle Mall website.