Light in Concert

It crackles, creaks and booms; lights become sources of sound. This experimental artistic creation came about during a chance rehearsal involving an LED tea light: “We wondered how the flickering worked and took one apart. When we connected it to a loudspeaker using simple alligator clips, it suddenly played the composition ‘Für Elise’.” This discovery sparked an interest that, years later, led to a concert performance featuring the sound of light.

The secret star of the evening is a ‘light-listening device’. Based on the principle of an electronic component called an optocoupler, it uses a sensor to capture the light pulses from a wide variety of luminous objects. It converts the optical pulses into analogue audio signals, which then become audible.

Those who do not understand these physical principles can simply sit back and experience them: in this concert performance, the duo scheinzeitmenschen, together with the pop-avant-garde band YENGA, draw psychedelic, shimmering sound collages from everyday light sources. In various experimental set-ups, eclectic light and electric sound form surreal feedback loops.

Text: Jonas Leifert for FAVORITEN Festival