the luminin
A visual instrument: it turns a performer's motion into light.
A simulation of the first Luminin. Move the guitar, and the controller on its headstock drives the sketch, which lights the two screens.
pattern
Just as a musical instrument transmutes the movements of a skilled musician into intricate arrangements of sonic vibrations, the Luminin, a “visual instrument,” converts the physical motions of its performer into a dazzling light show.
And it isn't tied to its own screens: from a club stage to a gallery, it can play whatever lights and video a venue has, as it did at Baby's All Right.
on stage — baby's all right
The Luminin behind O. Wake at the Unfamiliar State album release, Baby's All Right, 1 February 2024.
on film — odysseus
The Luminin lighting the set of O. Wake's video for "Odysseus", as both its light and its backdrop.
how it works
The controller sits on the guitar's headstock. Inside it, a motion sensor (an accelerometer and gyroscope) feels how the guitar tilts, swings and jolts, twenty times a second, and its own small grid of lights shows what it feels.
It sends those readings through the air to a small receiver wired to a Raspberry Pi. The Pi runs a Processing sketch, which turns them into a series of animations, live.
The animations play across two hand-built 26 × 52 inch LED screens: 512 lights each, behind paper that softens them into fields of colour.
Tilting the guitar shifts the sketch's colours.
the concept
- Played live. The light comes from a performer's movement in the moment, so it keeps the risk and life of live playing.
- A score, not eye candy. A light show is to a song what a film score is to a film: it serves the music.
- Screens as canvas. Sprites are brushes leaving temporary trails of paint; how long trails last, their colour and motion set the mood.
By tying movement to visual output, and bestowing a performer with power to modify and manipulate their visual environment with a flick of the wrist, the Luminin opens the door for a new artistic language: a syntax for the choreography of light and image.
Modular in design and built with cheap, easy to obtain materials, the Luminin is a proof of concept for a DIY platform which would provide musicians and performers with the tools to design and innovate the visual aspects of their performance while on a budget.
The first Luminin was my MFA thesis at Pratt, in 2021. The thesis goes far deeper into the technical details and philosophical motivations behind the project: download the pdf.
close-ups
the music
The Luminin exists to serve songs. Hear them on the music page, and follow O. Wake on instagram for updates.