A light drawing app to visualise electromagnetic fields

Shamik Ray and I set out to explore the world around us that is increasingly populated by invisible phenomenon. We produced a toolkit and visual vocabulary for technological exploration through light-painting and long-exposure photography to capture, visualise and communicate invisible electromagnetic fields that surround everyday objects.

I developed custom software for the project to access the sensor data of a mobile phone. Initially using Processing and running on an Android phone, then later using openFrameworks to create an iOS version. We then used a combination of long exposure photography, stop-frame animation and light painting to capture and visualise the EMF around everyday objects like our laptops and radios.