Installations
French Provincial Mirrored Chandelier
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Mirrored Cylinders
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Mirrored Cube
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Mirrored Scanner
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In the 1970s I was commissioned to apply my knowledge of Visual Music to the emerging
field of disco lighting design. I soon realized melody was a minor issue, rhythm and
orchestration dominated disco. My color organ circuits, which followed melody so well,
were ineffective. Through experimentation I learned to match the rhythm of the music by
designing light sequencers with a rate control for matching the music's tempo. To match
changes in orchestration I would switch the lights being sequenced, using different
fixtures, positions, colors, and special effects such as mirrored balls and strobes.
By 1974 I was invited to a disco called "Directoire," to discuss redesigning it.
It had been one of the first clubs in America to embody the European idea that people
would dance to records played by a DJ. The original design was by the "Joshua Lightshow."
They had used a "marquee sequencer" to automatically animate the club's lighting. A "marquee
sequencer" was named after the theatrical marquees that it typically animated. To create
the illusion of moving light, it was necessary to turn on and off a sequence of three circuits.
From my experiments in Visual Music, I had realized that because disco music was based in 4/4
time, it required a minimum of four circuits to translate into light. It was not sufficient
that the light appear to move, for maximum effect, it had to move in perfect sync with
the beat of the music.
I had already designed a sequencer that would count to four, rather than three, and I
had used that in my two previous club designs. I redesigned Directoire's lighting to
sequence in 4/4 time. When the club reopened as "Le Twinkie Zone," the result proved
an example of what had been previously called the "psycho-kinetic effect."
It made people want to dance.
I consulted with Digital Lighting Corp., and using what I'd learned, they began
manufacturing the first mass
produced disco sequencers based in 4/4 time. I believe this innovation was a key to
the disco phenomenon which subsequently swept the country.
Commissioned Installations
1979 12 West, NYC
1978 Aggadir, NYC
1977 Disco Trek, NYC
Gables Disco, NYC
1976 Grand Ballroom, Hotel Diplomat, NYC
Tuxedo Ballroom, NYC
Jouissance, NYC
1975 Rouge et Blanc, NYC
Disco Adonis, NYC
Murry the K's Cest Le Vie, NYC
1974 Le Twinkle Zone, NYC
Limelight Disco, NYC
Jack Nickolas Bar, NYC
1973 Fresh Disco, NYC
Gaslight Discotheque, NYC
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