The central feature of Ben Rubin's multimedia installation is a large, high intensity LED display system furnished by Parallel Development. Mounted behind the glass skin of Adobe's 18 story headquarters, the Semaphore is visible on the city skyline from considerable distances. The display renders four rotating discs bisected by a dark band, pausing in various positions to communicate textual information in an arbitrary encoding scheme.

San Jose Semaphore was commissioned by Adobe Systems in collaboration with the City of San Jose's public art program. In support of this civic program, San Jose-based Philips Lumileds donated 26,000 of their Luxeon LEDs to the project, allowing us to develop an exceptionally bright and reliable system.

Rubin's piece has many other dimensions beyond the display system itself which can be explored in depth at www.sanjosesemaphore.org. Parallel has a long history of working with artist Ben Rubin, and more on his work can be found at www.earstudio.com.