Resonance
Niels Bohr Institute
Copenhagen, Denmark
2024
Resonance, 2024
Coated glass sphere, aluminum profile, wood,
sensors, speaker, cables, electronics
125 x 35 x 35 cm.
Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark
Resonance (2024) is a work activated by the detection of gravitational waves, which are echoes of cosmic events arising from the merging of astrophysical bodies, such as black holes or neutron stars. These ripples propagate through the fabric of spacetime and reach Earth, where they are detected by the international network of sensitive instruments (LIGO) installed in various locations around the planet.
The work receives notifications of such events from this network and responds by generating a unique sound composition in real time. The shaping of the final auditory outcome is influenced each time by information collected from the immediate environment of the work through the sensors it is equipped with. The data gathered from the surrounding space, combined with signals from the LIGO network, bring to life a soundscape that merges the cosmic with the terrestrial. The final sound is emitted from a speaker placed inside a glass sphere, which in turn affects the acoustic result.
Resonance is not a work that continuously reveals itself to the viewer but functions more like an organism in waiting. It remains partially hidden until the conditions that activate it are met. It is as if these cosmic fluctuations, traveling across the universe, disrupt the body of the work as they pass through our planet, causing it to respond by generating waves of sound in turn.
The artwork was developed during the 2024 Art & Science residency organized by the STRONG Group, a research team at the Niels Bohr International Academy dedicated to gravitational wave astronomy and strong-field gravity. The piece receives real-time alerts about candidate events from the LIGO Scientific Collaboration.
The work receives notifications of such events from this network and responds by generating a unique sound composition in real time. The shaping of the final auditory outcome is influenced each time by information collected from the immediate environment of the work through the sensors it is equipped with. The data gathered from the surrounding space, combined with signals from the LIGO network, bring to life a soundscape that merges the cosmic with the terrestrial. The final sound is emitted from a speaker placed inside a glass sphere, which in turn affects the acoustic result.
Resonance is not a work that continuously reveals itself to the viewer but functions more like an organism in waiting. It remains partially hidden until the conditions that activate it are met. It is as if these cosmic fluctuations, traveling across the universe, disrupt the body of the work as they pass through our planet, causing it to respond by generating waves of sound in turn.
The artwork was developed during the 2024 Art & Science residency organized by the STRONG Group, a research team at the Niels Bohr International Academy dedicated to gravitational wave astronomy and strong-field gravity. The piece receives real-time alerts about candidate events from the LIGO Scientific Collaboration.
It is on permanent display at the historical NBI
building.
