(via TEDx)
The Fluxus movement - "anti-art" experiment in sound, composing from the random, conceptualized by John Cage and explored by George Maciunas in the 1960s. Fluxus us a do-it-yourself, artist-centralized, creative practice. Fluxus is an not a style. Often simple, fun, humorous, compelling. The artist can use sound, images, text, objects, whatever they see fit to create a new combinations in any category. Like reading a book by only the first word of each chapter, music composed my shooting score with guns, or perhaps nothing at all. Famously, John Cage created " 4'33 " where an orchestra played nothing allowing the audience the chance to absorb the surroundings. In the following case, music is composed from innate radiation.
Radiation literally surrounds us. It is made up of the same photons we see but we can only detect those with very specific frequencies and wavelengths (energies). However, there are a myriad of naturally occurring isotopes that, in order to get back to a stable state, require the emission of invisible photons. They are emitted from the ground, the sun and even our own bodies. But their undetectable characteristics leave us oblivious to their omni-presence.
Media artist Kristofer Hagbard and DJ/Musician Axel Boman have figured out a way to make this phenomenon perceivable to human senses. The team used research collected by nuclear physicists professors Bo Cederwall and Arne Johnson and PhD Karin Andgren along with their interpretations of the data, to compose a radioactive orchestra where the instruments used are conducted by the patters and energy levels of individual isotopes.
Each isotope has a different decay rate and different energies of emitted photons. Single photons are released for every step of decay. This can be thought of as the isotopes fingerprints. Using a photodetector, nuclear physicists have gathered data corresponding to a great deal of isotopes. Hagbard and Boman took these fingerprints in data and with the use of a computer and an algorithm to assigned notes depending on the energy of the photons (the higher the energy, the higher the notes and vice versa), they picked a musical key, and could also adjust the beat or decay time.
So far, they have created an EP of six songs featuring solos by Barium 133 and Xenon 131 and duets of Nickel 56 and Calcium 48, Lithium 67 and Cobalt 60 and a collaboration between Technetium 89, 99 and Zinc 69.
The nuclear scientists were particularly receptive to the final musical compositions. The entire team believes deeply in what this clash of cultures has produced. Using these musical interpretations of radioactive decay, it can be easier to explain the scientific phenomenon through a perceivable art form. They hope to inspire people everywhere, especially youth, to become involved in physics and learn about the natural sciences.
To make their composition method available to groups everywhere, the team has also developed a website with an online musical composer where one can pick from different atoms and apply the same algorithms used by the team to compose their own songs based on nuclear physics. The group is also using a photodetector to do live shows.
Who says science isn’t art?
Cabe
John Cage - 4'33