The Light Orchestra is a visual instrument that you can play with your body—it's like a musical instrument, but you're producing light, not sound. A wall of 1250 full-colour LEDs, 6 meters (20 feet) tall, is at your command. Walk up and be the conductor! With a small gesture, create a flicker; with a sweeping motion, throw fountains of colour.
The Light Orchestra has been at the following events:
- Oakland Art and Soul, August 2012
- Burning Man, September 2012 (Esplanade at 7:35)
- San Francisco Decompression, October 2012
- Sea of Dreams NYE, December 31, 2012
- Priceless, July 2013
- Burning Man, August 2013 (3:00 and A)
- Exploratorium After Dark: Transformations, September 2013
- The Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose: REBOOT:music, May 2014
- Exploratorium After Dark: Glow, December 2015
Position and motion are detected using a Kinect depth camera. The lights are controlled by a particle system: bigger and faster movements generate more and faster particles. The colour of the particles depends on your distance from the camera, so you can choose the colours you want by taking a step forward or backward.