Nocturne

Nocturne was a sculptural light installation intended to a visual analogue to the presence of music in a space. This project was originally created to bridge the spaces of the old Media Lab (E15) with the new building (E14). An Imperial Bösendorfer piano resides in the lower atrium of E15, and its tones can frequently be heard resonating throughout the building. As the piano would not be moved into E14, Nocturne was created to bring an impression of the piano playing into the new space.

Nocturne records and analyzes the sound of the piano being played. Specific features and parameters of the performance are transmitted to the installation located in the adjacent building. There, a suspended arrangement of glowing orbs represents the expressive quality of the piano's sounds in a different modality.

As electronics lead on the project, I was responsible for figuring out how to co-opt a Dropout Design disco dance floor PCB that we found lying around the Lab into controlling the 192 LEDs used in the final installation.

With Peter Torpey, Xiao Xiao, Florence Doughty, Scott Ferebee, Elly Jessop, Ting Sze Ngai, Edwina Portocarrero, Curtis Roth, Robin Willis, and Tod Machover