Sound of Light

Imagine you can hear the colors around you. Sound of Light is a synesthetic sculpture that has made this phenomenon a reality. The invention interprets and dynamically transforms sunlight into audio frequencies.

There is an explanation behind this madness. A high-quality camera mounted on the top of the structure films the sky and divides it into six colors (RGB and CMY). The six hanging, colored columns – which stand for the primary RGB (red/green/blue) and secondary CMY (cyan/magenta/yellow) color models – are designed to receive different frequencies and convert them from visible to audible sensory input. A series of woofers ( is fixed directly on the bottom of each column and convert the whole architecture into a giant vibrating loudspeaker.

Sound of Light is a joint project of Marco Barotti and Plastique Fantastique for Urban Lights Ruhr 2014 in Hamm. It is a composition of hue, saturation, and light. By mixing sound and architecture, the audience experiences a unique oneiric reality through the superimposition of colors, shapes, sounds, and vibrations. Visitors can also discover their own concert by changing their point of view – an individual spectrum.

Pictures courtesy of plastique fantastique.