Made famous in concerts by Jean Michel Jarre, laser harps recently gained a boost in popularity after being featured in Make Magazine. That's where one Japanese creator, who goes by the mysterious name of 'nameless911', found inspiration prompting him to make his own for an exhibition at his school.
He cleverly implemented an aluminum frame system (NIC's alphaframe) to bring his own laser harp to fruition. This meant that his build was light and portable, and seeing that he traveled to make all the way from Gifu to this certainly made the trip to Tokyo Make Meeting easier.
He was displaying in the dark room at Make, and like any good showman he had a smoke machine set up to increase dramatic effect. (I originally thought that perhaps the LED bike wheel from Suns and Moon Labs was starting to smoke from overuse!).
I was surprised to find that another maker, Wu Ming was displaying a laser harp in the main exhibition hall as well. This one was divided into two smaller sections and didn't sounds quite as 'stringy', but it was very impressive as well. Update: Wu Ming says that his performance was inspired by Susumu Hirasawa, who you can see here.
Check out the video below for a look at both laser harps, as well as a few other interesting projects from Make, particularly a really badass water canon at the end.
