Faculty of Design

Industrial Design

Sinan Almis

Even the Robots are dancing

A Music visualizer built around an MSGEQ7 chip that splits sound into seven frequency bands, then drives stepper motors to move uv lights across a spinning disk. Every song draws something different onto uv paint. This project initially started from a second-year Interaction Design course at OCAD with my project partner Ethan Nguyen. We wanted to give overstimulated students something physical to watch, something to keep them engaged and present in the moment.

“Even the robots are dancing (2026) is an inquiry on how we find belonging through collective experiences in public spaces. This kinetic sculpture seeks to incite en-mass, a meditation on time and the impermanence of a fleeting moment. Where does this desire to hold onto moments and memories come from? As if the moment itself wasn’t the point. Rather than trying to capture it, we aim to temporarily materialize it for the audience to observe, and bear witness together as it passes us by. When footsteps and chatter fill the room, noises are live fed and visualized with responsive UV light, inviting each visitor to become participatory collaborators. Sound becomes light, and light becomes marks, indicating a singular but shared point in time that is already starting to fade as the disc continues to spin. Endlessly.”