remains

Inspired by the ancient Greek oracle of Dodona, Remains invites audiences into a contemplative environment centred around a suspended tree and a bronze basin filled with black water. Reclining beneath its roots, spectators are immersed in an interplay of light, spatialised sound, vibrations, scents and moving materials.

The final chapter of a trilogy initiated with Deep are the Woods and Je suis une montagne, the performance explores the disappearance of the natural world under human influence, while imagining its transformation and regeneration beyond humanity. By shifting our perception of time and our place within the living world, Remains offers a poetic and sensory experience that challenges our anthropocentric perspective.

Ohme Lab’s contribution

Ohme Lab collaborated with Éric Arnal-Burtschy on the development of a custom laser lighting system integrated into the suspended tree.

A key challenge was sourcing compact, low-power monochromatic lasers emitting at the unusual wavelength of 488 nm, producing a distinctive icy-cyan light aligned with the artist’s vision. The team developed a distributed control system allowing 60 lasers to be individually dimmed and animated through MadMapper, using Art-Net communication, Ethernet-based controllers and custom electronics.

The architecture relies on ten ESP32-based nodes powered via Ethernet (PoE), each controlling six lasers through PWM intensity modulation. This approach minimises cabling while enabling precise, dynamic lighting effects. The development also involved custom electronic interfaces, mechanical integration and connectors within the tree’s modular structure, alongside careful consideration of beam orientation, reliability and audience safety.

About Sidekick

Sidekick is an technical residency programme coordinated by Ohme Lab, Ohme’s research and development department. Open to artists and cultural practitioners from the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, it supports projects at the intersection of the arts and applied sciences, across three categories: EDUCATE, SENSE and PERFORM. Each selected project receives 10 days of technical and scientific consultancy from Ohme Lab’s engineers, complemented by an artistic grant and a prototyping budget.
Remains was selected in the PERFORM category.