Real-time interactive multimedia work · 2012
Light Object
Light becomes visual form, sound, atmosphere and physical event across one continuous real-time stage system.
Created in 2012, Light Object joins real-time 3D graphics, granular sound, performer interaction and networked stage lighting in one continuous stage system. Visual form, sound and physical light are generated and transformed live rather than assembled as separate media layers.
[513教室]电子乐团
Conducted by Perry Cheng / 程伊兵
Light as Physical and Psychological Material
Light Object begins from the physical presence of light and the feelings that light can produce before they are translated into language.
A sudden spray of light can touch the body without intention. Its effect is optical, spatial and psychological at once. The work treats light with a direct and serious attention, allowing physical illumination to become atmosphere, pressure, softness, intensity and emotional state.
Within the work’s imagined world, light can move as a wave of fire, soften like breath, disperse like dust or gather into a luminous body. When moving forms meet, collide and transform, they become a light object.
Stage lights, video and sound are controlled by iPhone in real time. Our sense of light concerns both physical light and the psychological feeling into which it is converted.
In an imagined world, light appears as waves of fire, softness and grains of dust. When these forms meet one another, they become a light object.
The visual field is generated as a live event: rendered, transformed and illuminated while the performance is taking place.
The audience encounters computation at several scales at once: within the generative visual field, within the sound and across the physical architecture of the stage.
Visuals, Sound and Stage Light as One System
The work connects real-time graphics, electronic sound and physical stage lighting within one interactive structure. The forms seen on screen are computed during the performance. Their geometry, movement, density, colour and luminous behaviour remain open to change as the system responds to sound and interaction. The visual field is therefore performed rather than simply displayed.
Max/MSP/Jitter provides the visual and control environment. OpenGL renders the three-dimensional visual field in real time. Csound generates granular sound, while Art-Net carries control to the stage-lighting system. An iPhone provides a live interface through which video, sound and light can be shaped during the performance.
Work Archive
- Title
- Light Object / 光体
- Year
- 2012
- Duration
- 7′20″
- Form
- Real-time interactive multimedia computer music on stage
- Creator
- Concept, composition, music and 3D programming by Liu Hao / 刘昊
- Conductor
- Perry Cheng / 程伊兵
- Performers
- [Classroom 513] e-LIVE ORCHESTRA / [513教室]电子乐团
- Performance
- China Conservatory of Music, Beijing, 2012
- Visual system
- OpenGL real-time 3D rendering in Max/MSP/Jitter
- Sound system
- Real-time granular sound generated with Csound
- Stage lighting
- Art-Net network control
- Live interface
- iPhone control of visuals, sound and stage lighting