Proposal for Fridman

El Origen de la Noche | The Origin of the Night

The origin of the night is a sound and light composition. It is inspired by acoustic sound oscillations, sound waves that, according to scientists, appeared at the origin of the universe.

The composition, in spatial and formal terms, is developed through Millas flutes of the indigenous people of the Muisca community in Colombia - this type of flute is used in cosmogonic rituals for this culture, precisely because for the Muiscas the sound waves of this instrument gave rise to their cosmogony also laser lights and interfaces that allow the translation of the sound of the flutes into visual waves.

The installation aims to point out the paradoxes, crosses and bridges that exist between the cosmogonic conception of Western science and the histories, rituals and traditions with which other cultures weave the history of their cosmogony.

The Origin of The Night, Render. 2018

Acoustic Sound Oscillations, Scientists Visualization.

Sound waves can be understood as changes in the pressure of the air. Similarly, contemporary science explains acoustic oscillations as pressure fluctuations caused by the interaction between gravitation, matter and heat that caused sound waves -similar to those we know- in the birth of the universe. As the universe grew, these waves became important, mainly because of their oscillatory interaction, which generated anisotropies -word that is used to explain the reason why the universe does not have the same concentrations of matter in all places.

However, before these scientific findings appeared, sound and cosmogony had already been correlated. From Hinduism, where the Goddess Shiva created the universe through her dance while playing the drum - whose sound is the same as the creation - passing through the ancient Egyptian beliefs, where Thot, the God of wisdom and music articulated the substance of the universe through the sound of its singing, to the sound of the Millian flutes, which for the natives of the Muisca tribe in Latin America were fundamental in their representation of The Origin of the Night, title of the story with which they narrate the birth of their cosmogony.

These crossings and paradoxes between the two visions and ways of understanding the origin through sound tend to become problematic, often irreconcilable. It is not strange an answer like that of Carl Sagan in relation to the parallels between modern cosmology and Hinduism. “Hindu religion is the only one of the world great faiths dedicated to the idea that the cosmos itself undergoes an inverse, indeed an invite number of deaths and rebirths It is the only religion in which the time scale correspond, no doubt, by accident to those of modern cosmology�.

Why this doubt and opposition between the scientific vision and the religious vision of the world? Science aims to de-animate, from a marked reductionism the elements studied.

Religion animates, focusing on deities that agency material phenomena in the cosmos.

Following Bruno Latour, How to mediate between the de-animation of science and the over-animation of religion?

Image reference for the installation.

Image reference for the installation.

An interesting case that seems to go through these two world views is explained in La Monte Young texts about the physical effects of the frequencies used in his works and the implications of sound in the understanding of cosmological and cosmogonic themes.

How to reconstruct, through notions and concepts studied by acoustic physics, a sensitive vision of the creation of the universal structure?

The sound that passes through the eardrums, particularly in the low and middle frequencies, is conducted through the auditory neurons to the cerebral cortex in rhythmic patterns that reflect the pulsation of the air molecules that reach the ear. Consequently, we receive a vibratory structure and, if we think that the universe was created and maintained by a vibratory structure, we will see that through sound we can in fact begin to glimpse a concrete understanding of the universal structure to which we would not arrive in any other way.

There are a variety of examples and works in which these two visions intersect. Like the texts on the works of La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela, where the idea of creating spaces and sound environments is proposed through the use of specific sound frequencies distributed throughout the installation space.

Sine waves have the unique characteristic of sound wave forms of having only one frequency component. All other sound waveforms have more than one frequency component. When a continuous frequency is sounded in an enclosed space such as a room, the air in the room is arranged in high and low pressure areas. In the high pressure areas the sound is louder, and in the low pressure areas the sound is softer. Since a wave has only one frequency component, the pattern of high and low pressure areas is easy to locate in space. Further, concurrently sounding sine waves of different frequencies will provide an environment in which the loudness of each frequency will vary audibly at different points in the room, given sufficient amplification.

About the Dream House Installation.

Selected Previous Works

The following works are part of the exhibition “Fables about Chaos� which studies in depth the concepts of order and chaos, from a creative and analytical perspective, which recalls the best moments of the work of Hans H. Diebner and his idea of Performative Science. The exhibition explores the visual, sonorous and spatial transduction of computational algorithms through installations that explore the field of interaction between art and technology; the former framed in a dialogue with the architectural space that enriches echoes of spatiality and meaning.

Cellular Automaton, 2018

Cellular Automaton, 2018

Cascade. Videoinstallation, 2018

Moving Forward. Laser Installation, 2017

Antisimetria. Installation, 2017

About the Installation A laser light and sound composition is created through the use of flutes, interpreted by automatic mechanisms, light and motors. The work intersects and shows the parallels and paradoxes between the scientific phenomenon of acoustic oscillations with the waves and vibrations of the Millian flutes of the Muisca tribe whose sounds unleash The Origin of the Night.

The artist provide the laser projectors, computers and flutes.

Tech Requirements 1. 4 current points, 2. Basic assembly tools and assemblers (stairs, drill, shafts, current points, extensions, reflective tape, spotlights, etc.)

3. Audio amplification system 4. Four days assembly in principle.

DMX Raspberry Pi

Laser 1

Flute 1

Laser 2

Flute 2