A shiny ball in front of Le Mixeur cultural center in Saint-Étienne, France holds the power to turn on Urban Lights Contacts, an installation that envelops a section of the building’s facade in light and sound. The only catch? It takes more than a single person to power it. To bring the installation to life, the individual who first touches the sphere must come into contact with another and touch a part of their own skin. Be it a handshake, a caress, or a kiss, physical contact generates Urban Lights Contacts' colored lights and ambient hum.
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“[Participants] are transformed into real sonorous human instruments,” explains Grégory Lasserre and Anaïs met den Ancxt, who form the creative duo behind the project, Scenocosme. “In a poetic way, we invite the spectator to question the perception of the other.”The installation draws “known or unknown” people together into the different degrees of proximity in human relationships, using the electrostatic energy between two bodies to trigger sounds and visuals. As the group of participants grow closer and further apart from one another, the vibrations ebb and flow as well. “We propose a sensory experience with the other person’s body in order to animate what we cannot detect,” explains Scenocosme.Below, watch a video of Urban Lights Contacts, and check out some stills of the installation in action:
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