Lights On Tampa presents Tampa Public Mood Ring by Will Pappenheimer and Chipp Jansen — A gradient project in art, steel, sports and blogspace :: January 10 - February 1, 2009 :: Downtown Tampa, Florida.

The Tampa Public Mood Ring (TPMR) is a combined internet and spatial artwork installation which allows an online news community to display the emotional condition of public news stories as color hue. It is based on the wearable “mood ring” which chemically changes color according to body temperature. For the Lights On Tampa program, the ring concept draws on the local and national sports community propelled by NFL fanaticism leading to the mega event, Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa.

Online stories featured on TampaBay.com’s NFL blogs link participants to the capability of sending a comment-mood, encapsulated in color, to the lighting of a 25 foot steel sculpture of a Super Bowl championship ring at Cotanchobee Park in downtown Tampa. The ring has been designed by Pappenheimer and built by Gerdau Ameristeel, an international company headquartered in Tampa and a wholesaler of recycled steel.

At its physical location, as visitors walk through the oversized ring structure, they are immersed in its light. Ephemeral messages from remote participants become enveloping onsite light transitions. The TPMR is an Internet monument to the collective instinct of network culture and its gradients of personalized customization. It enacts the growing energies of an active virtual audience transforming the boundaries of traditional media.

Lights On Tampa includes Chris Doyle, Casa Magica, Carlton Ward Jr., Will Pappenheimer and Chipp Jansen, Marina Zurkow.

Lights On Tampa is a public/private partnership that bridges Tampa’s commitment to the arts, technology, and education and offers free access to artistic excellence. It is a cultural and aesthetic event designed to engage, entertain, and educate Tampa’s visitors and diverse community. Lights On Tampa is a biennial program that brings major contemporary artists to downtown Tampa. By focusing on art that is experiential and includes both “low” and “high” tech materials, Lights On Tampa also puts the spotlight on Tampa.