interactive
laser harp
An interactive laser harp that turns beams of light into playable music.
NOVA Light Labs built the interactive laser harp as a playable piece of light art. Green laser beams stand in a column of haze inside a darkened room. Break a beam and a synthesizer answers, a resonant note filling the space the instant a hand crosses the light. It is a harp strung with light instead of wire.
The piece debuted at JUMP in Boise, Idaho for ILLUMIBRATE 2025 as a short term installation, with more venues ahead. Guests needed no instruction. They saw the beams, reached in, and played.
experience
Guests trigger notes by breaking laser beams they can see but not feel.
The interaction is instant. A finger crosses a beam and the note sounds in the same moment, with no delay the ear can catch. That immediacy is what stops people.
The beam has no weight. Nothing touches the skin, the hand expects nothing, and the room answers anyway. Guests come for that small shock, then stay to run both arms through the beams and play chords across the whole instrument.
NEXT MOVES
The laser harp needs a dark room, haze, and controlled lighting to perform.
The room is a lighting design decision. Haze is essential. The beams only read when there is something in the air to catch them, so the space runs dark with light haze throughout. At its debut, blacklight served as the ambient lighting: it let guests find their way in without ever competing with the lasers.
The lasers are pointer class and safe. A perimeter barrier protects the sensor electronics and sets the reach. The beams sit at arm's length, and the barrier reads as part of the piece.
A ceiling mirror folds each beam back down to the floor, so every sensor stays at ground level with no overhead cabling. That trick points forward: with mirrors placed through a venue, one beam could travel the entire space as a single playable string.
The harp is built to travel. Science centers, immersive art exhibits, botanical conservatories, and upscale corporate events are all natural rooms for it, anywhere the lighting can be controlled.
