Muon
An audio responsive installation for the launch of Muon, speakers from Kef and Ross Lovegrove. Created at Moving Brands.
Muon is a two metre tall speaker system made of super-formed aluminium. Remarkably reflective, these sound sculptures were created by the advanced research centre of KEF, the British-based world leader in sound technology and Ross Lovegrove, considered one of the most innovative designers of the 21st century. The name Muon is inspired by physics, an elementary particle with a negative electric charge.
Moving Brands were commissioned by Ross Lovegrove to create an audio responsive installation for the launch of Muon.
The launch took place in the beautiful Sala del Cenacolo hall at the National Museum of Science and Technology (Leonardo da Vinci), during Salone del Mobile in Milan.
My role was in the creative programming of the project at Moving Brands, under the supervision of Karsten Schmidt (aka toxi) and creative direction by David Eveleigh-Evans.
Outcome
The concept was to create a liquid experience to engage all the senses. Fluid forms would emanate from the position of each speaker, playing with movement and intensity of light in response to audio triggers. A monocromatic and minimal aesthetic compliments the form of the speaker design. During moments of impact during a piece of music, bright light and accents of colour would appear between the fluid forms. The volumetric light created a relationship between the visuals reflected in the curves of the speaker and the movement of shadows in the grand hall space.
The sound responsive engine used FFT analysis on the incoming audio. It was designed to listen to zones of frequencies, waiting for peaks in amplitude such as a beat, or the changing decay over time. An overal history analysis would listen for key moments of build up into a full crescendo.
Particle objects would be pushed from a speaker given a positive or negative energy force. Particles would cluster together, held by a physics spring. Each particle would change its energy and move to peaks of frequency zones. The space is three dimensional, particles moving along x&y and bobbing like fluid on the z axis. A 2D slice of the world is rendered, creating the effect of a liquid oil pool.
Technical details
The installation was realised on a giant LED screen built by Creative Technology, containing 73,728 full colour LEDs over a 10 x 5 metre floor, using the Barco MiTrix system.
Created entirely in Processing, using libraries ESS, traer physics, toxi.geom and (during debug) controlP5.
Results
“Moving Brands have opened up a new world for me in creating an emotional aura around my design. They have understood the concept and enriched it with a remarkable interpretation of organic forms moving in space……it brings my work closer to the total polysensorial reaction I have been looking for and inspires in me a new way of seeing”-
– Ross Lovegrove, 2007.
Apr 2007
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