Dezeen Magazine

Future Self by rAndom International, Wayne McGregor and Max Richter

Interactive designers rAndom International have created a lighting installation that can map and replicate human movement.

Future Self by rAndom international at MADE

Located at the MADE exhibition space in Berlin, the project was presented as part of a dance performance coordinated by choreographer Wayne McGregor and composer Max Richter.

Future Self by rAndom international at MADE

As two dancers moved around the perimeter of the installation, 3D cameras recorded the shapes made by their bodies and replayed them on a brass grid of over 10,000 LED lights.

Future Self by rAndom international at MADE

The image created by the lights always resembles a single figure, no matter how many people approach it at once, but it can combine the movements of more than one body.

Future Self by rAndom international at MADE

All information recorded by the device passes through a computer, so it can also be played back with a time delay or saved to replay later.

Future Self by rAndom international at MADE

rAndom International designed a similar movement-sensitive lighting installation after being announced as one of the winners of the 2010 W Hotels Designers of the Future awards and have also created a set of motorised mirrors that turn to face their observer.

Future Self by rAndom international at MADE

Film is shot and edited by Matthias Maericks, MADE.

Here's some more information from rAndom International:


Future Self, 2012

“Future Self“ is a new performative light installation by rAndom International, presented for the first time in unique collaboration with Wayne McGregor and Max Richter and made possible by MADE.

Future Self by rAndom international at MADE

Making its premier through performance over Berlin Gallery Weekend, “Future Self” was extensively explored in a new piece choreographed by Wayne McGregor and scored by Max Richter in relation to the light installation.

Future Self by rAndom international at MADE

Two dancers intensely communicated, with each other and with their own reflections, through light as well as through the body. Throughout the performance, music, artwork and the human form were unified into one immediate and emotional experience.

Future Self by rAndom international at MADE

“Future Self“ studies human movement; what it can reveal about identity and the relationship we have with our self image.

Future Self by rAndom international at MADE

The installation mirrors our movement in light, creating a three dimensional, ‘living’ sculpture from the composite gestures of those who surround it.

Future Self by rAndom international at MADE

Selected members of the audience are bound together, in the moment, as an illuminated presence –another version of themselves.

Future Self by rAndom international at MADE

MADE space, Berlin

MADE is a creative platform for artists from various fields, located in the heart of Berlin. It is a venue for interdisciplinary projects that invites artists to step out of their artistic routines. The goal of MADE is to enable a new kind of creative work by bringing together different artistic fields and offering a workspace and an inspiring biotope that allows new things to happen.

MADE was founded by German contemporary artist tadiROCK, her partner Nico Zeh and their team in early 2010, supported by ABSOLUT Vodka, a brand that fosters creative collaborations for over 30 years.

Future Self by rAndom international at MADE

Aluminium, custom electronics, 3D cameras, LEDs, brass rods
1200 x 1500 x 3450 mm

Future Self by rAndom international at MADE

Dancers: Fukiko Takase, Alexander Whitley
Rehearsal Director: Catarina Carvalho
Choreography: Wayne McGregor
Score: Max Richter