The installation licht.bad (light.baths) refers to the former function of the Heidenheim Art Museum as a public baths/swimming pool. Acoustically set, virtual “water drops” hit the field of the former pool and trigger wave-like light movements on 45 glass plates. The multi-channel composition, created in collaboration with musician Olaf Boqwist, is based on the sounds of real swimming baths and so combines sound and light in a shared spatial structure.

The work creates a field of perception in which acoustic impulses activate light movements. The glow of the glass surfaces, the delays between sound events and light events, and the spatial distribution of the modules create an image that changes continuously as one walks and listens. The space is rhythmically structured and can be experienced as a medium, in its own right, in which the memory of the water surface of the former baths manifests itself as abstract, rhythmic movement.

The light and sound levels are controlled via eight MIDI tracks, which are linked to the DMX lighting technology via a central computer. MIDI serves as a digital notation that precisely specifies the sequences for sound and light: six tracks control the synthesiser sound and two control the modulation of the EL and LED glass modules.