A Graphic Design project in Melbourne.. :)

[cor]

As the topic title reads, I am far from the usual electronics forum member. Basically, I am a Communication Design student from Melbourne, Australia, at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Communication Design is a fancy new word for Graphic Design (those fart-faced art head lecturers are always trying to put more worth to an art course than is deserved!) :P

I am unsure of where to post this, so I'll explain my predicament in my introduction thread. It may be even worth my staying around here afterwords (if there is a resolution) just to add my left-wing hippy banter to the forums.

Myself and three other students are attempting to create a 3D environment consisting of a light structure and on/off switches which can also involve a sustainable energy source. The topic of this project is memes within focal points in history.

Basically, we want to string rows of LEDs across a room, with the option for people at an exhibition to come, press buttons and crank a level to provide additional power for the lights, as we understand, on our budget, we probably can't afford something that can power the entire LED array.

Our budget is roughly $100, give or take $20 (truly, we are poor art students). Upon a little research, I've discovered some interesting looking things we could incorporate such as light push buttons and a dynamo hand crank.

My question is: is this feasible? Is it possible to have a form of display as I've described? I'm not sure if it's possible to *string* LEDs across wires (predominantly top corners of the room into the middle) to a centre point, or if LEDs can only work on PCBs? Any help is greatly appreciated, and I will endeavour to respond as quickly as I can to any replies.


Thanks all in advance,
Glenn.

[esp1]

hi Glenn,
You can buy ready made 'LED ropes', that is, LED's installed in clear plastic tubing.
They can be hung room corner to centre.

The 'user hands on push buttons' could select a 'rope' so that the 4 ropes would be illuminated in various sequencies, is that what you had in mind?