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The Poetry Of Light: Reactive Light Installation Meets Poetry Performance

Andrea Cuius-Boscarello and Roland Ellis create a sound reactive light canopy to compliment a theatrical performance.

This is a different kind of poetry performance—rather than the lone, solemn figure of the poet standing on stage, a whole ambience has been created with a canopy of interactive light bulbs that glow and dim in response to the words. The work, So… I was at a party last night (so called because it infers the start of a conversation, and the show is about storytelling), was commissioned by Sabrina Mahfouz for her show Dry Ice. To compliment her performance, Mahfouz was looking for a light installation and asked Andrea Cuius-Boscarello, a creative coder who’s worked with rAndom International, United Visual Artists, and Cinimod Studio; and designer Roland Ellis, who’s worked with AllofUs and Troika, to collaborate on the installation.

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With a minuscule time scale of only two weeks, they began by building some custom software. Andrea explains, “We developed a custom software using Cinder. The software responds to the audio input, generating the visuals in a 3D environment. We have a few different effects we can run—some of them directly control the lights with the audio input, others use the audio to generate and move objects in the space, which triggers individual lights.”

The lights create an ethereal mood and the magical act of storytelling, especially as it relates to fairy tales, is alluded to by this luminescent covering, hovering just overhead like fireflies in a forest. The audio is captured using a microphone, which then gets analysed in real-time, producing the reactive roof. “To communicate with the light bulbs, we used a midi controller, a laptop and a USB to DMX converter connected to a very old fashion DMX dimmer rack,” says Andrea.

The effect, while utilising modern technology, has an old-fashioned look that mimics that act of reading beneath the bed covers or within an alcove—this aesthetic was achieved through the use of 30 tungsten lamps with delicate filaments radiating inside. The result is a calming sensation, something the pair of artists wanted to create from inception.

“We wanted to create something surrounding and warm. We were looking for a canvas that would let us create and respond to specific atmospheres and feelings that flow through the show,” says Roland. “From conversations, we wanted to recreate the expressions of emotions in an installation form. The poetry jumps from character to character, and so the canopy fills with simultaneous conversations, becoming an audience to the performer.”

Images: Roland Ellis // Andrea Cuius