Electrolysis Bubble Display based Art Installations

Research was conducted on a digital information display using electrolysis bubbles. Although the research mainly focused on information displays in daily life, the ephemerality of bubbles is also a promising method for dynamic art installations. In this paper, we present two novel artworks using this electrolysis bubble display mechanism. First, we present “UTAKATA,” a ticker-like bubble display, using a running-water channel. Seven electrodes are placed linearly on the channel bed, and they generate text messages using bubble dots that drift toward the lower end of the channel. Second, we present the “Bubble Mirror,” which is a water pan with a camera that captures a visitor’s face and displays it using electrolysis bubbles as pixels. Facial images with six levels of grayscales are displayed on the water surface using 32 × 32 electrodes. We evaluated the output properties of these configurations and discuss the results obtained.