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Jan 13, 2024

Marjolein Tamis' Mirror

Self-described "nerd" Marjolein Tamis has taken a Raspberry PI and a display to

Self-described "nerd" Marjolein Tamis has taken a Raspberry PI and a display to build an art installation inspired by the James Webb Space Telescope — but for showing photos, rather than taking them.

"It was Christmas day 2021 and the James Webb Space Telescope was launching. Just like many people I know and don't know, I’m absolutely fascinated with it and I was excited about the images it would produce," Tamis explains. "Since I’d taken an interest in home automation and building projects, it occurred to me that it would be amazing to have a picture frame in my home somewhere, where I could look at the latest images from the telescope. And then I found hexagonal mirror tiles online. An idea was born."

While an initial batch of hexagonal mirrors, mimicking the ones which make up the reflector of the JWST though on a smaller scale in both size and cost, arrived broken, a second batch was delivered intact — ready for assembly on a wooden board painted black. "The middle of the design would contain the screen instead of a tile," Tamis explains, "where the black column is on the actual telescope."

A 7" color display, chosen so that the photos displayed upon it would be visible enough without having to get right up close and personal, was mounted on a 3D-printed column which pushes it proud of the mirror array — evoking, again, the way the real JWST is laid out. The display is connected to a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, mounted behind the board, and running a headless Raspberry Pi OS installation which runs through a slideshow of JWST images.

Tamis' full project write-up is available on her website.