photograph: Boris Popović, Route 666 Zagreb
ROUTE 666
Can You Hear Lights Around Us?
P R E F A C E : L I G H T U N E . G
ROUTE 666 is a project of mobile luminoacoustics, in which random light elements create a sound image. Six solar panels are installed on the roof of a van, they are connected with a computer (PureData) and through it to the sound system in the van. 6 passengers choose 6 different traveling routes. The sound the passengers hear is the sound of the lights the van encounters on its route. In the evening, the city public lighting, light from the commercials, traffic density, direction of the van’s route are the elements which determine the structure of the sound. During the day, we have shadows of the buildings, trees, trucks. Daily rides are possible in early morning and late-afternoon, when the shadows are clear and long. By choosing a particular route, the passenger therefore becomes a composer, and the driver of the van is the performer.
video: Izlog suvremenog zvuka 2013: Bojan Gagić - Route 666 - Interview
camera: Dinka Radonić
interview: Karolina Rugle
LIGHTUNE.G, was founded in 2011 by Croatian multimedia artists Bojan Gagić and Miodrag Gladović, from a desire to present the results of their luminoacoustic research, which they started a year before. The name of the duo emerged from their first experiments, which they performed with the classical tungsten light sources, which produced sound of 50 Hz (~G1).
photograph: Ivan Kolonić
After the first series of performances / concerts / installations, called Lighterature Readings, in which they created music using various types of artificial lighting and nine solar panels, they later started researching the sound produced by a natural light source - the Sun. In 2013 they presented their ‘mobile luminoacoustic’ project - Route 666, and a year later they built their first luminoacoustic object - Luminophone.
Later on, they have collaborated with many other artists and festivals (Mirela Ivičević, Hugo Morales, Ana Horvat, Davorka Begović, Cantus Ensemble, Showroom of Contemporary Sound, Heart of Noise, TouchMe, Device Art, Sonica, AudioArt...).
They received several awards, including the 3rd prize at the Guthman New Musical Instrument Competition, Georgia Tech University, Atlanta, USA (2012), the 2nd prize for multimedia content of the Croatian EXPO Pavilion (2012), the Audience Award at the T-Natječaj HT@msu.hr for Croatian Contemporary Art (2014), and a special mention from the jury at the Biennale di Venezia (for the light and sound design of architect Ana Dana Beroš' installation, 2015).
LUMINOACOUSTIC is a performance technique based on the analogue conversion of light into sound. This conversion is done using the photovoltaic effect of the solar panel. The silicon cells of the panel transform the light source frequencies into a modular sound image. The technique was developed by Lightune.G.
The difference between the luminoacustics and other art projects based on the use of photovoltaic effect(*) is that in luminoacoustics we can actually hear the sound of the light itself. The basic work methodology is divided into working with artificial light sources (neon, halogen, tungsten, LED, video projection, laser, lighters, UV, bicycle lighting, strobe ...) and working with the natural source of light, sun(light). When using artificial light, the structure of the sound image/composition is created through combinations of diverse light sources, as well as by the changes of the intensity of the light itself, while in working with sunlight, the principle is reversed, ie, the shadows of varying densities and velocities create an audible spectrum of sound.
photpgraph: Boris Popović
year: 2013
curator: Davorka Begović
medium: luminoacoustic drive
production: Kultura promjene, SC Zagreb
copyright: all rights reserved, Bojan Gagić, 2024.