Stunningly beautiful is Jean-Pierre Aubé’s Nocturne (image above, video below), a work for a lighthouse, two photoelectric cells and eight LED’s. The work employs a pre-recorded video of a lighthouse as a trigger for real time sound generation within a space, effectively networking exterior and interior spaces / locations, previous and current time frames.

On the island of Ouessant, France’s westernmost point, the lighthouse of Créac’h protects passing ships against the treacherous Breton coastline. This lighthouse, one of the most powerful in the world, emits 2 light signals every 10 seconds. I began by making a video of the lighthouse at night, from which I derived a 10-second film loop. The light emitted from the lighthouse was then analysed by 2 photoelectric cells glued to a computer screen. When this light reached a certain degree of luminosity, the light sensors would send out a signal to a microcontroller, which would set in motion a series of events. Functioning as a digital console, the computer would receive the data from the microcontroller and create a sweeping sound in step with the rhythm of the lighthouse.

[blogged by Garrett on Network Research]