Makers have always been at the forefront of new technology, both as inventors and as innovators. From their beginnings in the early 20th century to their ubiquity in the current era, LED lights have captured the imagination of makers and creatives. While some makers are fascinated by their energy saving capacities, others are captivated by the pretty lights and their integration with other types of electronics. At Maker Faire Bay Area we celebrate the makers and their projects who are deep diving into LED technology and its creative applications in the Dark Room — which, of course, shows them to their best effect(s). Come over to the dark side at Mare Island on September 25th through 27th and see what makers are making with light. Here’s a sneak peek.
Our cover image (above) Lepidoptera Imaginaria by Grant Patterson, is an interactive light sculpture inspired by the endangered migratory monarch butterfly. Patterson, a Stanford-trained computer scientist with decades of experience in hardware, software, and IoT systems, uses 570 full-color LEDs to turn voice into light. To activate it, participants speak into a vintage microphone. An LLM generates code on the fly, translating their voices into ever-changing light patterns. The piece makes AI-generated “code slop” visible—and lets anyone create software instantly, no programming experience required. The catch (which is especially interesting to the technologists in the room): without seeing the code, you can’t really understand, debug, or change what you’ve made.
This year many Dark Room exhibits have a musical component as via integrated hardware devices or PCBs (printed circuit boards) designed to synchronize visual lighting effects with audio signals, music, or MIDI inputs. One such project, Night Canopy, is a room-sized musical instrument with hanging strands that respond to touch with sound made by Bay Area maker, DJ, and software engineer Jenia Varavva. Step inside, brush a strand, and hear a loop or short sound join the music. Fluorescent strands glow under UV light beneath a reflective ceiling, inviting people to play together.
Two other pieces which explore the interplay between light and sound and are designed for experimentation are an agentic VJ system and a piece designed to create interplay between light and sound on theater sets.
Vrch.io is a small art-tech studio building real-time generative AI systems that turn sound, gesture, and emotion into immersive spatial experience. Founded by an architect-turned computational artist and an AI engineer they believe that latent space is the new medium and new (or old) ways of control and interaction are worth exploring.
Chromolume is an art piece made by Bay Area artist Sydney Parcell for the play “Sunday in the Park with George” presented by Shotgun Players Theater in Berkeley. This light-art piece spins and casts light and shadows in the space around it, and is fully controllable with DMX, which enabled the sound and light designers to collaborate with the art piece.
Another version of light and sound interaction comes in the form of a giant 9′ chandelier – The Morphoresonator. Walk up to a chandelier glowing in a dark room, humming with music — luminous forms hand-sculpted from cellophane and packing tape over light, proof that living light doesn’t have to wait for a foundry. Make a sound — clap, hum, speak, play — and it answers you: the light shifts, and the music takes your sound in and plays it back changed. That’s the MorphoResonator, a sculptural light instrument fused with a live generative music system.
Dynamandala is an immersive, participatory light and sound installation that transforms audience input into evolving visual patterns and spatial sound in real time. Through a custom sculptural controller, visitors become active collaborators, shaping a living audiovisual environment through play, movement, and exploration. Combining creative coding, real time 3D technology, and sensory immersion, DynaMandala explores the relationship between human input, perception, and shared experience. Each interaction creates a unique moment
A host of makers, many participants in the the citys’ renown winter light art festival are travelling down from Portland, Oregon with new and souped up pieces to display. Among them are Oscillara, Vivarium, and Samyra Drift by Twisty Maurice, the creative partnership of Misty Post and Therese Gietler (and a lot of guidance from Andy Batt).
Oscillara: This year with an interactive console: place your hands near or inside the smaller console and watch the movement ripple out into the larger illuminated piece, in real time.
Samyra Drift: Sam is a four-foot octopus made of LEDs and folded paper, drifting among sea stars and urchin shapes that seem to breathe with her. Watch her chromatophores long enough and you start noticing how many tiny paper pieces it took to make her glow like that.
Like many of the other Dark Room exhibits, Luxtriplicata is interactive. Made by Johan Fredrik Källman, a Swedish light artist working at the intersection of art, science, and public interaction, this light installation transforms the science of optics and the natural phenomena of light, reflection, refraction, and color into a hands-on experience for visitors of all ages. At its center is a rotatable plate embedded with glass prisms illuminated by a beam of white light. By rotating the plate and rearranging the prisms, participants actively shape how light refracts, reflects, and disperses into vibrant spectrums of color.
For those whodidn’t make it to there are some truly wonderful pieces of art custom built for Burning Man, an event that has helped pioneer both LED rich sculpture and mobile installations like “art cars” and deeply encouraged and demonstrated how the fascination and pleasure of participatory and interactive art pieces.
Although there are mobile exhibits that roam the Mare Island esplanade, outside of the parade one particular beauty lives in the Dark Room. Come visit Sepia Lux, The Cuttlefish Art car and its friend Flash the Tortoise. The cuttlefish is a 35 foot long animatronic inflatable illuminated cuttlefish. Flash the tortoise is a similarly lighted mobile tortoise made with custom formed HDPE paneling. Come play the lights by using piano or drum set in the dark room!
Come to Mare Island’s Building 101 AKA the Maker Faire Bay Area Dark Room September 25th through 27th and you will not leave disappointed. Improvements in LED technology, especially sequenced, dynamic color shifting across a piece and through interaction has really made it possible to trip the light fantastic in real time.
Get tickets and learn more at https://makerfaire.com/bay-area/tickets/.
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