Here’s what I’m gravitating to for stage design:
This is a planetary gear set that can be cut from MDF or plywood, then painted to look like rusty metal.
Each of the six planet gear substages will have its own LED lighting system. So the challenge here, in a kinetic art installation pulling double duty as a theatrical stage, is how to run the wiring for lighting. The cables have to be somewhat hidden and also flexible enough to travel in crazy ways for at least half of one revolution around the sun gear. Wires also need to be routed through the floor of each substage at strategic points.
So here’s my solution:
Six of these wooden trays will serve as the bases for the planet gears, set upside-down. The handle holes will provide access for concealing various cables and controllers.
This is how I visualize the synthesizer bay, estimating the space required in square inches. Rick Wright’s station will probably span two of the 15-3/4″ diameter substages with properly meshed gear teeth that protrude.
Those speakers and the HI-FLI are actually for David Gilmour’s guitar station. But this is generally how I landed on the wooden tray idea, using only the larger sized trays. It’s possible I could use the smaller diameter trays to allow the substages to revolve independently.
The concept here is that because Time is such an important theme (and a brilliant song) on The Dark Side of the Moon, I want the stage to resemble gears in a timepiece. Then I might animate the stage kinetically, using a stop motion animation technique called hand-cranking.