Gestures of Light, Traces of Self
[Lightpaint] is a guided light-portrait installation and live A/V format exploring presence, image, and embodied transformation in real time; where your body, movement, and presence become the raw material for a luminous, evolving image.
Participants step into a softly lit space while the artist paints them with a light orb – each gesture accumulating into a single composition projected live. The process feels intimate, even when the whole room is watching. It is open and low-pressure: strokes can be added, erased, or tried again. Every move is valid.
Technology becomes invisible, leaving room for pure play – a chance to move freely and see yourself differently. For those daring to go deeper, there is an invitation to embody a feeling, a vision, a longing. Participants leave with a still image and an animated version that traces the entire arc of the creation – mesmerizing to watch, and entirely theirs – and a memorable experience that, for many, continues to quietly reverberate in their lives.
[Lightpaint] is part of the larger vision of [Temple Playgrounds] (see more info here), a living playground of immersive experiences designed to spark connection and personal transformation.
Impact
[Lightpaint] opens a space — gentle, intuitive, and open-ended.
For some, it’s simply an exploration: a chance to move, to try something new, to make an image that feels unfamiliar and alive.
For others, it becomes a point of contact — with emotion, identity, or memory.
Participants have spoken of:
- Reclaiming agency over how they are seen
- Exploring facets of themselves not easily expressed in words
- Letting go of self-consciousness and rediscovering a sense of play
- Feeling visible in ways they hadn’t expected
The images themselves — layered, half-formed, luminous — speak to the fluidity of presence. What is captured is not fixed, but unfolding.
How It Works
- Real-Time Creation: A custom digital system simulates long-exposure photography, layering each gesture into a single evolving frame in real time.
- Light as Brush: A wireless controller and light source allow participants to “paint” in space, with precise control and full freedom to explore.
- Undo / Iterate: The process is non-linear — you can revise, add, or start again.
- Artifacts: Participants receive both a still image and an animated video via QR code.
- Facilitation: Can be fully guided by the artist or run in a lighter, self-directed mode, depending on context and intention.
- Installation: Adaptable to many formats — intimate, public, or performative.
Formats
Live A/V performances – Presented in a defined time slot (e.g. 45–90 minutes). The artist invites participants in sequence and “paints” them with light in relation to the music, so the evolving image becomes a live, improvised visual composition.
In music-driven contexts, [Lightpaint] can also run alongside a DJ or live set, with the light “strokes” and participant flow composed in relation to the beat — functioning as a live, improvised VJ layer built from the audience itself. Performances can also integrate compositions built with physical objects that are meaningful for the set.
Interactive installation – Runs as an open station in continuous blocks. One person at a time steps into the space, co-creating an image with the artist while the audience watches the projection evolve.
Contexts for Presentation
[Lightpaint] has taken shape in Electronic music and digital arts festivals, public installations, and more intimate, ritual-based settings.
It can serve as a point of entry — light and playful — or deepen into a more contemplative practice, depending on how it’s held.
This work resonates in spaces that explore:
- Creative risk-taking
- Identity and image
- Embodiment and memory
- Collective presence
[Lightpaint] sits at the crossroads of digital installation, live A/V performance, and participatory practice. The performance can be part of a broader constellation of interactive pieces, such as those within [Temple Playgrounds], a collective doing research into embodied, interactive rituals.
Some recent presentations:
- Festival Connexion Extatique
- Cosmovision @ Centre des sciences de Montréal
- Café SAT
- Taburnak, L’Osstidburn
- Cosmovision @ L’Éloi
- Day of the dead, Conseil des Arts de Montreal
[Lightpaint] integrated with dia de Muertos Offering at Conseil de Arts de Montreal
How the experience feels like?
“My experience was that I was able to express myself and see the results as the process went. I felt excited and in awe of the process and results.”
— S.
“I experienced it as something magical — very different from traditional photography. There’s movement, shadow, light, and above all, agency. I wasn’t just being captured. I was building something of myself.”
— N.
“At first I thought it was just about aesthetics. But then I realized I was making a version of myself I hadn’t seen in a long time.”
— J.
“There’s something powerful about watching your own gesture turn into light. I felt proud of the image — like it reflected not just what I look like, but how I feel inside.”
— N.
“This experience helped me reclaim how I relate to my image. For someone who struggles with visibility, with identity… this was quiet, but deeply symbolic.”
— E.
Play with us
[Lightpaint] is part of the larger vision of [Temple Playgrounds], a living playground of immersive experiences designed to spark connection and personal transformation—through play, art, and adaptive technology.
For festivals, digital arts programs, and A/V performance contexts, a technical rider and flexible presentation formats (installation and live set) are available on request.