Delighted that my film Cosmic Chiasmus: crossing the universe was screened at Contemporary Calgary Gallery for the 2022 Particle + Wave Festival
The Particle + Wave Festival is an annual media arts festival held by EMMEDIA with exhibitions, screenings and audiovisual performances by local, national and international media artists at multiple art venues around Calgary, Alberta.
The Earth is continuously being bombarded by a flux of particles called cosmic rays. Now that I have the Cosmic Ray Detectors counting particle events and flashing LED’s I am thinking about the design of the encasement for them. Trying to decide between something smooth and technical or something more alchemical looking. At the moment it is just cardboard with two printers loupe lenses.
Progress has been made getting the python script running to write the event data directly to a computer. I have Mami Fukunaga to thank for this.
Comp_date Comp_time Event Ardn_time[ms] ADC[0-1023] SiPM[mV] Deadtime[ms] Temp[C] Name
2022-04-07 11:20:50.567000 1 624 174 29.79 726 20.90 susan1
2022-04-07 11:20:50.717000 2 775 88 2 0.96 730 20.90 susan1
2022-04-07 11:20:51.430000 3 1487 49 15.48 916 20.90 susan1
2022-04-07 11:20:52.437000 4 2493 403 88.99 1102 20.90 susan1
The next step is to look at writing new script to read the recorded energy of the particle data and trigger another programme for a visual effect. The visual effect will respond the energy value of the particle.
The highest energy cosmic ray observed, named the Oh-My-God-Particle, was measured to be equivalent to a brick falling on your toe, all contained in a single proton.
There are so many ways that cosmic rays impact life on Earth and in space, from the dangers of radiation to enabling carbon dating techniques or corrupting computer processor data and new technologies are engaging with them for exploration and navigation.
Muon tomography uses cosmic ray muons to generate three-dimensional images of internal geological or manmade structures and now cosmic-ray muon radiography is being investigated to allow navigation underwater and in areas where there are not so many GPS satellites such as the Arctic.
The system known as the muometric positioning system (muPS) is in development by UK based company Geoptic along with international partners. Early technology allowed for non-invasive imaging of critical infrastructure, such as railway tunnels, to identify areas of concern such as hidden voids.
The technique is being further refined using 1 metre square scintillation detectors positioned so that when a muon shower occurs the source and time is recorded and the data triangulated using atomic clocks accurate to 10 billionth of a second to determine location. In the future muPS may even provide navigation for uncrewed submarines. Links to research here Underwater positioning system. High Latitude positioning system.
Out of studio
Visiting Tate Modern
Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian Pentagon 2008
Pat Steir Long Vertical Falls – aquatint and etching 1991
and exploded bling spectacle from Yayoi Kusama in the mirror rooms
Cloud Sediments – Hyphen Lab at Ambika P3
Part of Ecological Futures collective of international researchers and artists exploring modes of togetherness in the face of adversity. More info here
Urgent works deciphering many current causes for concern emphasised by being submerged and overwhelmed by ecological, social and political crises in this cavernous underground space awash with water/world problems swelling and rising.
Who knows what went on in this boys club nearly 2000 years ago. The cult of Mithras, a mystery religion practised from the 1st to the 4th centuries AD., also known as the Mysteries of Mithras; its origins are uncertain and what is known is pieced together from archeological discoveries. A feast, a seven stage initiation, dining with the sun god and slaughter of a bull feature.
Strange in the current climate to watch the footage from the 1950’s excavation of the ruins after the bombing of London reduced the city to rubble and the Temple of Mithras was unearthed. Thousands flocked to see the archaeological site, queuing for hours to get a glimpse of the past.
I was fascinated by the lighting in this latest recreation of the Roman Cult Temple, creating ethereal walls of mist and dark smoky columns.
A visit to Greenwich
The observatory is closed at the moment but there are some beautiful astronomical treasures in the Queen’s House and the ghost of the tulip staircase to look out for.
A visit to Salisbury Cathedral
Splendid platonic solids, the world’s oldest mechanical clock and majestic cedar trees. The tomb from 1635 is of Thomas Gorges and Helena Snachenberg and the polyhedra possibly reference da Vinci’s drawings for Divina Proportione book on mathematics and a nod to sacred geometry.
Incredibly this spectacular structure is built on 4ft foundations and the ground water level must be checked regularly – hence the hole and stick.
Not only shaky foundations but adding the tallest spire in Britain caused the pillars to bow.
A visit to Kew Gardens
The proliferation of paintings in the purpose built Marianne North Gallery at Kew Gardens is an astonishing achievement by an amazing pioneer. Her love of botany was inspired by a visit to Kew gardens in her twenties but it wasn’t until after her Father’s death when she was forty that she began her mission to visit as many far away places as possible and paint the plants she found there. Between 1871 and 1885 Marianne travelled the world often alone capturing the scientific detail but also the beauty of the plants in their natural setting.
Zadok Ben-David Blackfield.
I remember seeing this impressive installation at Hales Gallery back in 2007, it was good to see it again and on a bigger scale. The acid etched and hand painted miniature plants are taken from 18th and 19th century botanical illustrations echoing the paintings of Marianne North in the gallery next door.
Wolfgang Buttress – The Hive is a permanent installation at Kew.
Bees communicate through vibrations. An accelerometer in a beehive at Kew senses vibrations from the activity of the bees and sends these in real-time to The Hive. One thousand LED lights respond to the vibrations along with a soundscape also triggered by signals from the real beehive. The sounds from a pre-recorded library were created when musicians improvised to a live feed of beehive sounds in the key of C, the key that bees buzz in.
Alignment at Gallery 46
Beautiful work from Mary Yacoob and Kevin Quigley exploring the mysteries of the universe that reside in the patterns and alignments of nature and human ritual.
Plus performance by Geo-metron ensemble specially commissioned for ALIGNMENT.
The Ensemble has developed work on ideas centred around Geometry, Cosmic Alignments, Earth Measurements.
From the press release:
Since 3000 BC, observers have been fascinated by the study, development and analysis of spatial relations in line, measurement, angle and shape. Through necessity, they developed techniques in the surveying and measurement of everyday phenomena.
The Greek Mathematician, EUCLID, who worked at the Library of Alexandria, described ‘10 Greek Axioms’ which he referred to as his ‘elements’. These ‘elements’ went on to form the empirical basis and foundation of science and reasoning. Euclid’s text, written in the 3rd century BC, was entitled ‘The Elements of Geometry’, or in Greek ‘Geo Metron’ (Earth Measurement). Euclid’s text continues to enlighten, and is studied today as geometry continues to sub-divide into new, advanced forms, delineating the universe around us. So important was the study of line and shape that Pythagoras and Plato often wrote ecstatically about ‘geometry’ as the key to the interpretation of the universe. Thus, geometry gained an association with the sublime, to complement its earthy origins and its reputation as the exemplar of precise reasoning.
MARY YACOOB’S cyanotypes immerse viewers in the mysterious sensory-chromatic ambiance of star maps and the night sky. Lightboxes and colour-saturated drawings explore relations between geometry, spatial relations, and our perceptual experience. The evolution of visually complex and harmonious alignments suggest artistic creativity as a metaphor for the creativity inherent in all natural processes.
KEVIN QUIGLEY’S work is a series of drawings, mono-prints and relief printing in which he is drawing inspiration from the occult sciences of geomancy and talismanic making. Producing two sets of print works, Kevin Quigley sets out to explore the esoteric meaning of number, markmaking and alignment from ‘earth energies’ in the landscape to power sigils used throughout magic and religious traditions.
Splendid trip to Worthing to see Anne Krinsky‘s Shifting Shorelines installation on the sea front and exhibition Fugitive at Worthing Museum and Gallery followed by a passionate talk to a full house from marine ornithologist Lizzie Hibberd on the migrant bird visitors to the South Coast.
A paean to the fragile beauty of the South Coast wetlands under threat from pollution, bad land management and climate change.
Susan Eyre 