SEMICONDUCTOR - 20 Hz
OCTOBER 2011 – MARCH 2012
THE EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE COMES TO LIFE IN THIS STRIKING NEW DIGITAL MOVING IMAGE ARTWORK
Lighthouse and Arts Santa Monica in Barcelona are delighted to present a new artwork by Brighton-based artists and filmmakers, Semiconductor, commissioned for the exhibition, Invisible Fields: Geographies of Radio Waves in Barcelona. We commissioned Semiconductor to make a work which showed us the relationship between radio waves and sound, intending that the piece would open the exhibition. The commission is supported by the British Council. Their resulting work – 20 Hz – is now available to watch online.
20 Hz from Semiconductor on Vimeo.
26.01.12: Lighthouse is delighted that Semiconductor have won the Samsung Art+ Prize for new media art. The winners of the Samsung Art+ Prize were announced on 25 January in a ceremony at the BFI Southbank. The Samsung Art+ Prize is the UK’s first digital media art competition, showcasing the works of technologically-inspired contemporary artists.
20Hz is being exhibited at the BFI Southbank in London as part of the Samsung Art+ Prize exhibition.
20Hz is also showing as part of Invisible Fields in Barcelona.
20 Hz is a 5 minute video which uses data collected by the CARISMA radio array. CARISMA (Canadian Array for Realtime Investigations of Magnetic Activity) is an array of magnetometers which study the Earth’s magnetosphere. 20 Hz is an interpretation of a magnetic storm occurring in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. The CARISMA data – captured at the frequency of 20 Hertz – is interpreted as audio, allowing us to hear the “tweets” and “rumbles” caused by the interaction of solar wind with the Earth’s magnetosphere. The visual element of the film is generated directly by the sound. Tangible and sculptural forms emerge suggestive of scientific visualisations. As different frequencies interact both visually and aurally, complex patterns emerge to create interference phenomena that probe the limits of our perception.
The film has gone viral, being featured in dozens of blogs around the world, and has had over a quarter of a million views online (as of December 2011). There has also been positive critical feedback. Director of The Arts Catalyst, Nicola Triscott has described the piece as “visually reminiscent of some of Woody and Steina Vasulka’s experimental video works”
Invisible Fields: Geographies of Radio Waves is showing at Arts Santa Monica in Barcelona until March 2012. Featuring over a dozen international artists, the show explores how our understanding of our world and our cosmos has been transformed by the study of radio waves. With the invention of telecommunication technology at the end of the 19th century, the radio spectrum became a tool for rethinking the world we live in. Radio collapsed geographical distance, crossed borders and cultures, became a powerful catalyst for commerce and enabled scientists to study the cosmos in entirely new ways. Yet whilst the radio spectrum is the invisible infrastructure that enables the technologies of information and communication, most people are unaware of the way it works, how it is managed, and how it is has shaped our understanding of our lived environment. Invisible Fields shines a light on this enigmatic landscape.
Dates: 14 October 2011 – 4 March 2012
Times: 1100 – 2100, Tuesday – Sunday
Venue: Arts Santa Mónica
La Rambla, 7
Barcelona, Spain
Semiconductor have been nominated for the inaugural Samsung Art+ Prize.
A 3D version of 20Hz is being shown at the Samsung Art+ Prize exhibition at the BFI Southbank in London from 18-29 January 2012.
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