Lyra

Lyra

A playable light instrument. Strings hung from floor to ceiling in a darkened room, each one triggering light and sound when plucked.

Lyra was my first foray into interactive light art, made while I was working at Moment Factory in Montreal and shown at C2 Montreal. A set of fishing wire strings was strung tightly from floor to ceiling, each fitted with an accelerometer. When a visitor plucked a string, the sensor fed its peak value into an algorithm simulating a vibrating chord. Light and sound grew from the tip of the string and travelled along the walls and ceiling, turning the room into a kind of circuitry. The more people played, the richer it got. Built on Arduino.