I built something similar that I called LowBoard. It was a 12x16 array of addressable color LEDs that was originally for low-rez halloween pictures (so good timing!) and we displayed it in the window as part of our display. Then I built a web app and hooked it up to the internet to let anyone draw and display an image for 20 seconds, kind of a physical snapchat. Then an hour or so later and ~100 12x16 dick-picks I disassembled it. Several lessons learned!
I built something very similar called Failboard FS (filesystem). As a scientific experiment I took an old video card and wired it to the wall power socket. The chips on it blew with a stinky smoke and a whistling explosion sound and everything and my circuit breaker threw a switch. After getting power back on line, I broke open an old hard drive and superglued that drive platter the to the burn out old video card. TADA! Failboard FS. Great stuff. Advanced. Innovative. Useful. Thank you for taking the time to read this, I hope to present Failboard FS at various conferences and events since it is marginally more practical and sophisticated than the projects most people cook up.
