LUCE: The Sound of Color (2009)

from here

Jena, Germany, February 25, 2009 – When the Russian composer Alexander Scriabin composed his "Prometheus" symphony nearly 100 years ago, he also developed a color piano that was to convert music into colors, creating a visual extension to the listening experience. However, during the lifetime of the composer (1872–1915), there were not the technological possibilities available to wholly implement this vision he had of converting music into color. Thanks to state-of-the-art color sensors today, it is now possible to stimulate all the senses of the audience.

State-of-the-art Color Sensor Technology from MAZeT Permits a
New Dimension To Be Achieved When Transforming Music into Colors

The “LUCE. The Sound of Colors" project offered impressive proof of this in December 2008. rosalie, a light artist from Stuttgart, Germany, placed 170 balloons in the booked-out concert hall of the Jena Volkshaus. These balloons provided a backdrop of light for the Philharmonic concert. The artist had transformed and programmed the musical pieces into a color composition that was then played along with the music. The balloons had different sizes—ranging from half a meter up to two and half meters in diameter—and were specially equipped with an LED and a color sensor. The color sensors developed by MAZeT and manufactured by Jenoptik ensured that every color that belonged to a note was always perceived in the same way, and more precisely, regardless of the ambient brightness. Only then can the fine nuances of the notes be transformed into differentiated shades of color.