cinimod studio: dj light

‘dj light,’ created by cinimod studio

created by british interactive designer dominic harris and his firm cinimod studio, ‘dj light’ is an immersive outdoor installation designed to actively engage the public in the artistic process. open to the public in lima, peru, it was created for the holiday celebrations of the endesa energy company.

the piece invites users to become ‘guest djs,’ who by their body movements orchestrate the light and sound of the entire space. the pavilion is filled by 85 inflatable globes of different sizes, each of which contains a 4-sided LED light strip that controls its color, and eight audio speakers, each on its own output channel.

full aerial view

entering an illuminated podium at the front of the space, users find that by simply moving their arms and bodies, they flood the installation with color and ambient sound, generated in response to their activity. the effect is accomplished through a networked system of speakers, thermal cameras, and the light strip array, all integrated by a single master computer program written in max/MSP.

on the dj podium, the movement of users as registered by a thermal camera affects the colors and sounds in the installation

the real-time process begins above the dj podium, where a thermal tracking camera tracks the movements of the ‘guest dj’ and feeds the data to the software controlling the installation.

the program itself consists of four basic interconnected modules: one to process the thermal tracking feed, a second to interpret the tracked movements into mood and scene settings, a third to generate audio relative to the dj’s interaction, and a fourth that controls the color of each globe, based on both the user’s movements and the input from the audio and mood modules.

the colour of each of the 85 globes is independently controlled

the project represents years of research and custom development of the requisite hardware, from the energy efficient LED strips to the high-accuracy thermal tracking camera. nonetheless, cinimod studio expresses the hope that the public’s focus is not on the technological achievement of the project, but rather simply on the experience and aesthetic of the artwork itself.

closer view of the inflatable globes

video of the work

via creative applications network