Light bodies: exploring interactions with responsive lights

“Light bodies” are mobile and portable, hand-held lights that respond to audio and vibration input. The motivation to build these devices is grounded in a historical reinterpretation of street lighting. Before fixed infrastructure illuminated cities at night, people carried lanterns with them to make their presence known. Using this as our starting point, we asked how we might engage people in more actively shaping the lightscapes which surround them. We prototyped a first iteration of sound and vibration responsive, LED-based coloured lights that we placed in three different settings including a choreographed dance performance, an outdoor public installation and an audio-visual event. We report on our experiences with these preliminary investigations.