Work in progress: Hypar Collective

Student teams are the perfect way to experiment and meet new people. But what to do once you’re (almost) graduated? A group of students and alumni from Eindhoven came up with a kind of student team 2.0. Hypar Collective is a foundation of young professionals with various areas of expertise. Together they develop interactive light installations. This year they will present their work at GLOW. Location: the TU/e Campus, the place where it all began.

At Work in Progress we talk to young makers who are at the beginning of something big. What are their ambitions and dreams? This time we sit with Thijs de Koning, interaction designer at Hypar Collective.

How did Hypar Collective come about?

We are a group of young creatives who just graduated or are about to graduate from TU/e. Each has their own specialty, from software engineering to event construction. Some of us founded the student team IGNITE in 2017. With Hypar Collective we are taking the next step, building knowledge around intelligent and interactive lighting systems.   

What do you guys make?

We started with Loop, 20 modular cubes that can be arranged into numerous shapes, which allows us to create a unique and personalized installation for every occasion. By now there are 160 of them. We use them at events such as Dutch Design Week or as backdrops for bands. And most recently at an international light festival in Vilnius. With every assignment we try to renew ourselves. For example, we are now developing a better cable structure for all the data and power cables incorporated in the cubes.

What is your ambition?

We want to create interactive light installations that make people part of the experience. By combining light, sound and interactive aspects, we are able to deliver a multisensory and immersive experience. With each installation we bring a new story that visitors can interact with.

What is the biggest challenge?

I think staying close to your own values. We see our work not only as a tech project but also as an art form. We try to bring our artistic values in every installation.

What are you going to do with GLOW?

We will show Growth. An installation that stands for the personal growth that everyone is going through, including us as a team. When you are in the middle of a growth process, life sometimes seems like total chaos. It is often only in retrospect that you see what steps you have taken. At our installation at GLOW you will experience something similar. From a distance it looks like a jumble of cubes, only when you come closer everything falls into place.

Is there anything Hypar Collective can use help with?

We would love to develop projects together with other professionals in Eindhoven. For example, we regularly work with Mohr Music. Then we connect our cubes with their installations and this way new ideas arise. That is very inspiring.

Do you know someone or are you someone who would like to work with Hypar Collective? Send us an email and we will put you in touch!

You can visit the light art festival GLOW Eindhoven from 6-13 November 2021 at different locations in the city.