[spectre] Radio Astronomy at Ars Electronica

Sun Sep 5 16:27:20 CEST 2004

Dear Spectres,

I am not sure how many of you are at Ars Electronica in Linz at the moment,
but if some of you are, I just wanted to invite you to come and check out r
a d i o q u a l i a's "Radio Astronomy" installation here:
http://www.radio-astronomy.net/ars.htm

If you are not in Linz for Ars, but would like to listen to "Radio
Astronomy", you can listen live online:
http://www.radio-astronomy.net/listen.htm

We hope this is of interest to some of you  (& apologies for cross-posting).

Very best wishes

Honor & Adam

r a d i o q u a l i a
http://www.radio-astronomy.net

..........................................................

RADIO ASTRONOMY AT ARS ELECTRONICA, LINZ, AUSTRIA

Dates: 03.09.04 - 07.09.04

Location:  Brucknerhaus, Untere Donaulaende 7, Linz, Austria

On-air: Radio FRO 105FM

On-line: http://www.radio-astronomy.net

..........................................................

NEW MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL BECOMES VENUE FOR THE SOUNDS OF SPACE

An exhibition of sounds received by radio telescopes has launched at the
Ars Electronica <http://www.aec.at/en/festival/> festival of art and
technology in Linz, Austria.

Radio Astronomy is an art and science project, which broadcasts sounds
intercepted from space, live on the internet and on the airwaves.  The
project is a collaboration between the art group r a d i o q u a l i a
<http://www.radioqualia.net>, and radio telescopes located throughout the
world.  Together they are creating 'radio astronomy' in the literal sense -
a radio station devoted to broadcasting audio from our cosmos.

At the Ars Electronica festival in Linz, listeners will be able to
encounter the sounds of space in three ways:

- by visiting a sound installation at the Brucknerhaus
- by tuning into 105FM at 2pm and 4am each day
- by visiting the live online radio broadcast

The radio transmission and exhibition are comprised of the acoustic output
of radio telescopes. Listeners tuning in may hear the planet Jupiter and
its interaction with its moons, radiation from the Sun, activity from
far-off pulsars, or other astronomical phenomena.

Many of these sounds are fascinating from both an aesthetic and conceptual
perspective, prompting comparisons with avant-garde electronic music.  Yet
very few people have heard these sounds, considering space to be silent,
rather than the rich acoustic environment it turns out to be. Radio
Astronomy intends to share these sounds with visitors to the Ars
Electronica festival

RADIO ASTRONOMY AT ARS ELECTRONICA

http://www.radio-astronomy.net/ars.html

For 25 years, Ars Electronica has been tracking and nurturing the digital
revolution, analysing the social and cultural effects of digital media and
communications technologies, from critical as well as utopian, artistic and
scientific perspectives.  "TIMESHIFT" is the title of the 2004 festival.
Focussing on the themes of transformation, upheaval and the future, the
festival aims to identify the developments that promise to be the driving
forces in art, technology and society over the next quarter century.

ASTRONOMICAL TIME SHIFTING

In keeping with the festival's 'TIMESHIFT' theme, the Radio Astronomy
installation at Ars Electronica explores the temporal qualities of
astronomical sounds.  Ranging from the deep-time rhythms of pulsars to the
high-frequency fluctuations of Jupiter's moons, the work is a richly
resonant sonic ephemeris.

The sounds presented within the Radio Astronomy transmission and
installation require us to radically reassess our concept of time.  In
order to acoustically make sense of data collected by radio telescopes, it
is sometimes necessary for scientists and engineers to alter the temporal
range of their data.  Data is slowed down or sped up -- in effect it is
'timeshifted'.

Radio signals are in a higher frequency range than the human ear can hear.
We can only hear sounds up to about 10 or 20 kHz, but much of the data
received by radio telescopes is far higher frequency ranges than this.  In
order make data collected by telescopes or space probes 'audible'
scientists sometimes 'timeshift' the audio, or slow it down.  For instance,
scientists operating the NASA probe, Galileo, recorded plasma waves from
many of Jupiter's moons.  In order to make it possible to 'hear' these
waves, they had to first cut the data into temporal slices and then play
back the waveforms 10 times slower. The process of 'time-shifting' creates
remarkably textured glistening soundscape.

Deep Time
On the remote end of the chronological astronomical spectrum are pulsars -
the Universe's natural metronomes.  A pulsar is a small neutron star which
contains an enormous amount of energy which causes it to turn on its axis,
or rotate, very rapidly.  These metronomic rotations have led to new
insights into timekeeping.  Pulsars are the most accurate clocks known.

Pulses of radiation from these stars can be received by radio telescopes on
Earth and translated into audio.  Each rotation can be heard as a click, or
a beat.  Some radio pulsars, such as J1713+07 are far older than the earth
itself.  By the time the sound of this pulsar reaches our earth-bound
instruments, it is over a billion years old.  This makes it the oldest
known radio broadcast.

Listening to Celestial Timeshifts
Visitors to the Ars Electronica festival can visit the Electrolobby space
at the Brucknerhaus to listen to these astronomical sounds.  Whilst in the
installation space, sounds will 'blue-shift' towards listeners, and
'red-shift' away, giving listeners the feeling of being in the midst of
interstellar traffic.

RADIO ASTRONOMY LIVE ON-AIR

Listeners can also tune into Radio Astronomy using standard transistor
radios.  It is being broadcast on 105FM in Linz on Radio FRO
<http://www.fro.at>, and on Shortwave and FM as part of Kunstradio's 'Long
Night of Radio Art'
<http://www.kunstradio.at/PROJECTS/REINVENTING/index.php?c=5>.

The extraterrestial signals emanated by the Sun, Jupiter and other
astronomical phenomena will be broadcast alongside the more prosaic sounds
of commercial music and news reports.  Some radio listeners may encounter
the celestial transmission by chance, while tuning through the radio
spectrum, looking for their favourite radio station.

UNESCO HONOUR RADIO ASTRONOMY

On 20 August 2004, Radio Astronomy received second prize in the UNESCO
Digital Arts Award.  The Award aims to promote digital art as an innovative
and artistic reflection on information society.  The 2004 Awards were
handed out by the President of Finland, Mrs Tarja Halonenat, a ceremony at
the Kiasma theatre in Helsinki, as part of the ISEA 2004 festival
<http://www.isea2004.net>.

VENUE & BROADCAST DETAILS

* Sound exhibition venue:

Brucknerhaus
Address: Untere Donaulaende 7, A-4020, Linz, Austria
http://www.brucknerhaus.linz.at
Opening Hours: 03.09.04 - 07.09.04, 1000 - 1900

* Broadcast Frequencies & Times:

On Radio FRO 105FM in Linz, Austria
http://www.fro.at
Broadcast times:
03.09.04 - 07.09.04: 14:00 - 15:00 CEST  + 04:00 - 07:00 CEST
04.09.04: 21:00 - 01:00

On Österreich 1 FM, Short Wave,5.1 via satellite ASTRA, Worldwide
http://www.kunstradio.at/PROJECTS/REINVENTING/index.php?c=5

FURTHER INFORMATION

Visit: http://www.radio-astronomy.net

Or contact: Adam Hyde &/or Honor Harger
r a d i o q u a l i a
PH: + 43 650 6321494
Email: adam at xs4all.nl   or   honor at va.com.au
http://www.radioqualia.net