August Luhrs

Corpus Phallosum is an interactive installation where 144 transparent dildos lit from within by LEDs act as switches that trigger different animations, sounds, and other functions. The default mode is as a MIDI piano with rippling animations, but to see what mode it's currently in, press one and find out!

https://augustluhrs.art/corpus-phallosum-ss/springshow

Description

Corpus Phallosum is an ongoing project I’m developing currently for the ITP Spring Show. After that, another iteration is going up at FIGMENT NYC on Roosevelt Island the first weekend of June, and the final iteration is an officially registered art installation at Burning Man 2019, where it will grace Deep Playa for over a week.

The core installation element is a wall with 144 transparent dildos lit from within by LEDs. Each dildo is a switch that, when pressed down, triggers an animation and sound, depending on the mode it’s in. The main mode when idling is a giant MIDI piano, where each dildo press signals a different note.

The current system uses a keypad/multiplexer type input sending signal to an arduino MEGA. The arduino sends the current presses to a raspi running processing, which controls the A/V elements.

I'm hoping to redesign the system this summer to become a modular/scalable (hoping for 4x as many LEDildos) setup that is more mechanically and electronically robust and better suited to the harsh environment of the desert, so if you have any ideas, please let me know!

Classes

Big LEDs, Collective Play