In collaboration with NASA & ESA scientists
BergamoScienza & Contaminazioni Contemporanee festivals, Italy, October 2012
Concerto for guitar, live electronics, visuals & sonic translations of the cosmic space
In Unfolding Space Avital uses three basic shared components between cosmic space and music: TIME, ENERGY & STRUCTURE
T I M E is the strongest common denominator of all, it is the basic frame in which events take place, both in physics as in music. Time is also relative hence can also be re-proportioned in an external frame: a sonic event or a visual sequence from the Sun, that lasts for example 40 days, could be accelerated into a 2 minutes sequence.
E N E R G Y is everywhere in the cosmic space. From large systems such as star clusters and galaxies to planets’ electromagnetic fields and a human glimpse of an eye, the universe is in a continuous vibration. Similar to the principle of musical transposition, measured components of energy in space could be adjusted to our hearing range (20 Hz - 20.000 Hz), thanks to new technologies applied to physics.
S T R U C T U R E is the macro system that creates the principal rule in which components operate. This part was the most difficult challenge to reveal in this project.
List of movements and subject within the composition
1. Orbit, resonance & rotation
Solar system personalization: The moon – spin orbit
Other astronomical bodies: Jupiter moons Ganymede, Europa and Io; extrasolar planets Gliese 876e, Gliese 876b and Gliese 876c.
2. Still landscapes / weird terrain
Solar system personalization : Mars / Mercury
Other astronomical bodies : The frozen giants – Neptune & Uranus
3. Slow constant in Macro – Fast variant in Micro
Solar system personalization : The gas giants Jupiter & Saturn
Other astronomical bodies : Galaxies, asteroid belts, Kuiper belt
4. Energy
Solar system personalization: The Sun
Other astronomical bodies : Quasars, black holes, Super nova, Giant stars, Pulsars, star clusters, Active galactic nucleus
5. Ethereal bodies
Solar system personalization: NON
Other astronomical bodies: Nebulas, interstellar dust, Dusty disks
6. DARK MATTER / ENERGY
7. Man & space (finale)
A homage to Neil Amstrong and the 1st walk on the moon
After many hours of brainstorming with Professor Marcello Coradini and under the guidance of other scientists involved, Avital chose "physical" characteristics of planets and stars in order to identify some type of structures that will univocally connect these characteristics with music.
The piece is divided into seven sections, each of which has a structural or semantic theme, a "personalisation" (or, more precisely, a plantation) from a celestial body - mainly from our solar system - and other astronomical objects that are, structurally speaking, related to it.
Yuval Avital - composition, visuals, guitar
Giovani Cospito - live electronics
Scientific contributors
Marcelo Coradini (NASA/ESA coordinator)
scientific advisor
Philipe Zarka (observatorie de paris, CRNS)
sonic translations of materials from jupiter, saturn & black holes
Alexander g. Kosovichev (stanford university)
sonic translations of the sun & sunquakes