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Celestial Random

Collegium Hungaricum Berlin 2022

In the 4 channel sound installation cosmic rays are captured and translated into a musical composition. The particles shot into space by supernovas and black holes light years ago, hit our atmosphere and split into a rain of secondary rays like muons, photons and others. These secondary particles influence our environment in a way that we cannot perceive without the scope scientific instruments. The current state of science assumes that a large part of mutations occurring in evolution is due to cosmic rays. Apart from the influence these cosmic particles have on our DNA, they are a major problem in electronic devices where they can cause bit flips. These bit flips are also known as soft errors and have led to a variety of events, some with severe consequences for those affected. They cause airplanes to malfunction and stock prices to fall. Nowadays, these occurrences in technology have become rarer since there are new methods to detect them with the help of error correction codes (ECC Memory). To detect cosmic rays, sensors are placed on the radial emitters and then taped to harmless uranium glass which increases the interaction rate of the particles with the sensor. When an event is registered a sound will be played. The selected sounds are chosen with reference to computer games that metaphorically symbolize the upgrade/downgrade. In addition, there are sounds of choirs and voice fragments that sonify the etheric, celestial poetically. The resulting generative composition is played back on specially designed and 3D printed loudspeakers, attempting to create an etheric volume in which a fluxus of knowledge and myths can coexist

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