The piece contains a sculpture and an interactive sound device. The sculpture is made of fiberglass and metal. It hangs from the ceiling and acts as a resonating body. It absorbs and reflects its surroundings both visually due to its mirroring surface, and acoustically, due to the sounds initiated by visitors.
GUIDING IDEA
COSMOPOLITAN emerges from the vision of a world in which cultures and living beings co-produce a peaceful and just coexistence. COSMOPOLITAN addresses a reflective relationship between the world-wide spread living beings and the human potential of becoming a „citizen of the world”. In this understanding, COSMOPOLITAN actively reflects the own state of the affairs and change them by putting higher demands on the environment as the “phlegmatic” ubiquists or “particularistic”, isolated endemites, would ever be able and willing to. COSMOPOLITAN presents a dynamic experimental setup that focuses on the omnipresent yet barely representative aerosols and the bacteria (the first living beings) adhered to them. COSMOPOLITAN reflects the equilibrium of nature and culture and stimulates humans´ interest in ecological structures, democratization processes and sustainability concepts. COSMOPOLITAN brings together the strands of various artistic and scientific disciplines by linking today’s concrete references to microbiology (the ‘reanimation’ of bacterial cultures) with the historical humanistic visions of the future.
VISUAL-SCULPTURAL LEVEL
The visualized accumulation of aerosols generates the visual-sculptural level. In the natural and human-polluted environment, winds directions cause dispersion of the sand particles (aerosols) and microorganisms adhering to them, which act as “natural fertilizers” of the soil or rainforest on their way from Sahara to Europe or South America. The natural and man-made aerosols that have been produced since the industrialization are of central importance for the chemistry and physics of the atmosphere, the biosphere, as well as for climate and health. The airborne particles affect the energy balance of the earth.
As a template for the sculpture, the shape and size of an unusually complex aerosol-cluster (consisting of 89 parts) are taken, which rendered possible its long residence time in the atmosphere. This means that this aerosol has already traveled a long distance under favorable climatic conditions (no rain). The spherical forms of the sculpture invite the beholder to linger and explore due to their appealing and at the same time “uncanny” – both “organic” and “crystalline” – forms and the interactive sound.
AUDITIVE-INTERACTIVE LEVEL
Historical bacterial cultures generate the auditory-interactive level. Bacteria originate from a sample of Sahara dust collected in Italy (Calabria), which Alexander von Humboldt received as a gift from Luigi Sementini in Paris in 1823 (then still considered to be a supposed “cosmic dust”). The dust sample was the first scientific proof that ecosystems stand in dialogue. This makes the event a milestone on the way towards future environmental protection. The sample was “revived” by the artist and her team in 2010. Crucial here is that in the 16s rRNA sequence, a new subunit is present, which occurs both in plants, animals and humans.
The DNA sequences of bacterial cultures from a historical dust sample are transformed into sounds. The number and movement of the visitors generate the live parameters for the interactive sound. The viewer thus determines the tempo and intensity of the sound, while the closed-loop control system is switched on and off by a timer. The sonification of the rRNA sequences is achieved through a process model based on the crystallization of spectral components, which are formed from completely random particle fractions, corresponding to a wind-driven sand or dust cloud. The visitors are examined in their process-relevant properties (number, speed, position, direction) via a camera system in real time while the measured parameters form the basis for the processing of the sonification model.
The specific spectral particles are transformed into non-audible high-frequency areas by means of a coding process (ACTG base pairs of the Humboldtian “cosmic dust” are formative for the underlying “scales”) and projected into the space-center via sound spots. Through contact with the object located there (COSMOPOLITAN, sculpture), the ultrasound-coded sounds disintegrate and thus audibly reflect back to the visitors, who are the actual initiators of the sound particle movement. The camera system is based on the infrared technology, which determine the temperature maps of the environment and the visitors. The sound spots distributed in the room reach a three-dimensional irradiation of the COSMOPOLITAN, whereby sound can be reflected on all sides.
CONCEPTUAL-PERCEPTUAL LEVEL
The bacterial sequence with its concrete historical and geographical origins and the current aerosol (which serves as the carrier medium for the dust particles, i.a. air containing suspended particles) reflect pars pro toto the special interplay of historical (field) research and its present day local mediation again. The increasing problems of air pollution, increasing traffic and industrial emissions have a negative impact on both the surfaces of historic buildings and man (inhalated aerosol).
The installation reflects on themes related to architecture, culture, science and environment through the direct, dialogical reference to their present (the used form and material of the sculpture) and past (the interactive sound). In conjunction with the constant change of perspective of the visitors, the sculpture’s elevated positioning recalls the perspectives of COSMOPOLITAN at the intersection of theories and practices of cultural encounters. Both the (carried) bacterium and the (carrying) aerosol as well as their symbiosis can be identified as COSMOPOLITANS. The sculpture embodies the microbial dust, which never really settles down, always swirls upwards and seems to take root again, and transforms itself into a COSMOPOLITAN. It “floats” over identities and fixed attributions, from which the alleged opposites between “nature” and “culture” are bouncing off: COSMOPOLITAN is lifted, it stands out and still is always been here. Because it has no genuine form, COSMOPOLITAN assumes almost every single one, because it is omnipresent, it withdraws from almost every perception.
With respect to the opening, changing points of view, light effects, partial views and interaction dynamics, COSMOPOLITAN places the perceived contradiction between conception and perception itself in perspective and becomes the site of reflexive kinesthesia, focused on the temporary and kinetic character of encounter, perception, knowledge and learning.
TECHNICAL LEVEL
The sculpture (fiberglass, metal, variable sizes) consists of 89 interconnected “aerosols”. The attachment of the spheres on the steel skeleton via collar designs is realized in each case in the upper parts of the spheres. In the spheres-pile, a steel skeleton is installed as a supporting structure, which passes from the attachment point under the ceiling to the lowest sphere. This construction branches to capture the secondary spheres as well. The attachment of the spheres on the steel skeleton takes place via contact pressure. The spheres are made of glass fiber (alternatively bronze; in this case, alternative weight-calculations and placement would be necessary). The object is glazed to a high gloss including antistatic adhesion. The construction is not flammable, the steel skeleton is galvanized and is maintenance free. In the cavity of the suspension under the load-bearing ceiling two intersecting, short steel beams are arranged, with which the steel skeleton is rigidly connected. Thus, the load is distributed over several attachment points, which achieves a spatial fixation of the artwork and thus avoids oscillation of the sculpture. – SURFACE: antistatic glaze. – LIFE-SPAN: Permanent. – MAINTENANCE: The sculpture is not flammable and should be max. 1 x per year or every 2 years dusted. The supporting structure is not flammable, the steel skeleton is galvanized and is maintenance-free. – SOUND: 8 sound spots, software, remote control, notebook, network camera. Soundspots are attached to 4 firm places around the object; the exact position (angle and height) must be determined after on-site testing. Shelf life: 10-15 years. Power consumption at 8 sound spots: 2,000 kWh per year. The determination of the position and the movement of visitors is realized via an optical tracking system. For this purpose, a camera is used, which detects the area to be tracked. The signal from the camera is relayed to a PC, which analyzes the movements and positions of the visitors and transforms the matrix of data, which determines the tempo of the sounds in real time.
