Labyrinth
Krissy Weisman, Robert J. Saferstein, Ernesto Rios
Physical Computing | Spring 2005

Concept/Objective

The concept for this project is essentially founded upon the principles and attributes of the labyrinth and the spiritual in art. Throughout history, mazes and labyrinths have held great importance in nearly every civilization and culture in the world. These geometric structures, which are based upon simple patterns and fractals in nature, are said to be in the domain of sacred geometry - a realm also inhabited by absolute shapes such as the circle, square, and triangle, and other structures like the circle-in-the-square. As such, the labyrinth is a symbol of the spiritual, with its purpose being to provide people an opportunity to meet themselves by reconnecting with their innate wholeness. Following a labyrinth's pathway is symbolically making one's way into the center of oneself.

Interestingly, during the years surrounding the first World War, there was a nearly simultaneous explosion of separate artistic movements, each of which came to practically identical theories concerning the creation and nature of art and its relation to the spiritual. Emphasizing sacred geometry, vibration, duality, and synaesthesia - ideas rooted in occultism and Theosophy - artists attempted to make "a work of art [that] was to be so expressive of basic feelings and so evocative of ideas and emotions that it would rise to a level on which all the arts were interrelated: sounds would suggest colors, colors sounds, and even ideas would be evoked by sounds or colors" (Charles Baudelaire, "Correspondence," 1857).

This project seeks to merge these ideas by positing a user in the midst of a virtual labyrinth, whereby one's physical movements in space control those of the virtual world. Following the synaesthetic inquiries of Wassily Kandinsky - whereby particular colors have corresponding sounds - and the color/sound/body relationships of the chakra, prescribed colors and sounds engulf the user as they explore the virtual space. Through the physical interaction of the user in reality moving in a virtual labyrinth, along with the spiritual elements of sound and color, both a meditative and introspective experience can take place.

Realization/Construction

Using four FSR's placed in the four cardinal directions (North, South, East, West), and sandwiched between two pieces of rubber affixed to two pieces of 24"x24" particle-board, we built a platform upon which the user could stand and maneuver throughout the projected labyrinth. In PicBasic Pro and Max/MSP/Jitter, we programmed a pic and a patch to output and input (respectively) the data being processed by the FSR's. Once in Max/MSP/Jitter, the values are sent through a variety of objects to determine which values are greater to determine direction (North, South, East, West), how fast to move through the image, which colors are to change according to the user's placement in different regions of the labyrinth, and which sounds correspond to the color/region and the user's movements. For pictures of the patch and the labyrinth in action, please select the links below.

Main Data Input Patch

Image Manipulation Patch

Movement Patch

Color Manipulation Patch

Music Manipulation Patch


The color determines the meter that the notes play in and the timbre of the notes themselves. Each color according to the study of Chakras, corresponds to a different Chakra that has a different number of petals. The number of petals corresponds to the meter as can be seen in the subpatch below. So, the color red has four petals so the meter is 4/4. Orange has six petals, so the meter is 6/8 and so on so forth. Colors also correspond to timbres, created using Max/MSP.

Sound Design Patch

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Video Images

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Movie Sample (~1.3 mins)

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Images of Labyrinth in Use

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Here is a picture of the Classic Style 7 Path Labyrinth. The colors put into this labyrinth correspond to the commonly accepted colors corresponding to the energy centers of the body called Chakras. Chakras are commonly called "spinning wheels" of energy that are invisible to your eye, but are metaphysically understood and accepted to exist by many people in many cultures.

This research shows the body alignments and it's relationship to this kind of Labyrinth. Seven Chakra's and Seven paths to the Labyrinth. Coinsidence? That is for you to explore. Many people feel that walking a seven path labyrinth moves through the energy of the body in this way: 3 2 1 4 7 6 5. Which means that as you move through a Labyrinth pattern it is 'affecting' the areas of your body that are corresponding to the "energy centers".