Light Portrait

Interactive/reactive light installation: mirror assemblage, proximity sensor, microcontroller, floodlight, dimmer.

Installation RISD, 2008

Light Portrait is an interactive/reactive light installation. A floodlight, mirror asseblage and two perpendicular walls are used to create a refracted light/shadow image of the viewer. As the viewer traverses the space, their distance from the mirror is read by a proximity sensor and sent to the microcontroller that controls the dimming and fading of the floodlight. The light is aimed at the mirror assemblage, so that as the viewer’s body interrupts the projected light, a fractured, multiplied and displaced shadow image of their body is projected onto the perpendicular wall. Viewers may interact with the mirror purposefully or inadvertantly, however they must turn away from the mirror to view their image on the wall. As the viewer approaches the mirror, the light increases. As the viewer moves away from the mirror, or towards their image on the wall, the light dims and the Light Portrait fades from view.