“Celestial Frequencies” was created following COSMOS 2017, an international artists’ commission and residency for the Lovell Telescope at the Jodrell Bank Observatory. The project was staged on the Lovell Radio Telescope, which is 90 meters tall, has a diameter of 76 meters, and a mass of 3200 tons. It was unveiled at the “Bluedot Festival 2017.”
The Lovell Radio Telescope has previously hosted artists such as Sigur Rós and Brian Eno. In collaboration with the institute’s scientists, it has served as a stage for entertaining shows that fuse music and science.
The work comprises two experiences: an image drawn using the equirectangular cylinder method, and a visualization of the data currently being received. The three types of data being used include observations of the entire universe at various frequencies, data from the pulsar, and data from observations conducted at the observatory in real-time. The variations in visuals and sounds are created by the differences in the frequencies of the data received, expressing a poetic work that conveys “human beings exist here in the vast universe.”
The installation contains a device that the audience can operate. By choosing the data the audience receives, different patterns of audio and visuals unfold.
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COSMOS 2017 \ Celestial Frequencies – Abandon Normal Devices
https://www.andfestival.org.uk/events/celestial-frequencies-cosmos-2017/
About Cosmos Residency 2017 – Abandon Normal Devices
https://www.andfestival.org.uk/events/cosmos-residency-2017/
Credits
Direction, Sound & Visual Programming: Daito Manabe (Rhizomatiks Research)
Sound design: Setsuya Kurotaki (Rhizomatiks Research)
Visual Programming: Satoshi Horii (Rhizomatiks Research), You Tanaka (Rhizomatiks Research)
Interaction Unit Design: Takahito Hosono (Rhizomatiks Architecture)
Visual Animation Management: Takao Inoue (Rhizomatiks Research)
Production Management (Japan): Nozomi Yamaguchi (Rhizomatiks Research), Ayumi Ota (Rhizomatiks Research), Rina Watanabe (Rhizomatiks Research)
Special Thanks: quino grafix Co,.Ltd.
Production: Rhizomatiks co., ltd.
Production Management (UK): Gabrielle Jenks, Ruth McCullough and Sarah Blaszczok (Abandon Normal Devices), Ben Robinson and Roxy Robinson (From the Fields)
Projection Mapping/Production: Bluman Associates
Astrophysical Data: Professor Tim O’Brien, Dr. Rene Breton, Dr. Sally Cooper, Dr. Patrick Weltevrede (Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, The University of Manchester)
Media
Lovell lights: turning a telescope into an art installation – BBC News
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44900634
