This site specific installation is a collaboration with NASA’s Radio JOVE program, and is intended to observe and translate radio waves coming from the sun as an auditory space of the metaphysical.
The project explores the definition of a wavelength, the physical and natural manifestation of the distance between two successive crests of a sine wave, and provided the basis for being able to observe two sets of data. In 2015, I constructed and installed a radio astronomy station in Quebec Saint-Jean-Port-Joli (as part of the Est-Nord-Est residency), and the site was daily covered by the tides of the Saint Laurent River. Recording the live astronomical data through the radio telescope and observing its physical manifestation in the form of the daily tides—within specific conditions such as a clear electromagnetic field, geomagnetic storm, clear sky and low tide between 10AM and 2PM—created the possibility of measuring and listening to what is effectively the sound of the sun. The astronomical unit recorded astronomical wavelengths versus the physical manifestations surrounding them, thus initiating a reflection on what is tangible versus intangible throughout the observation process. After many attempts and technical challenges, I sent the data to NASA scientists, who told me I was in fact recording the sound of the galaxy. The project opened a new path—and an exploration of the idea of faith—into new ways of hearing what cannot be seen.
With the support of Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec.
Sur les rives du fleuve Saint-Laurent, j’ai construit une station d’écoute du soleil. Soumise aux mouvements de la marée, mon installation était quotidi- ennement submergée par l’eau, réunissant ainsi la physicalité des ondes de la marée à l’intangibilité des ondes électromagnétiques que je captais grâce à mon outil.
Merci au Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec.