Listening Back In Time

Grandfather-clock pendulums are hanging for metal chains as a tangible notion of experienced time. Alongside them, cylindrical iron cores lead us back to the early life of Earth, serving as direct representations of deep geological time. Connected through an electrical charger are the sound recordings from the Orion Nebulae through ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) radiotelescopes. ALMA identifies molecules from the analysis of the radio waves it captures. Each specific emission corresponds to a molecule. These radio waves are reinterpreted as sound waves. Each emission captured from Orion is assigned a combination of sound waves. ALMA Sounds seek to decode and interpret the frequencies of the Universe and transform them into sound, just as the purple light hints to the invisible light emitted by the dust and gas in the nebula present in Orion.

The work took shape during Kalsmose residency stay at the ALMA Space Observatory in the Atacama desert of Chile, where she observed the astronomers' work. While they transformed radio waves into information, Kalsmose engaged in a parallel process – translating their technical findings into visual art, thereby allowing us to better sense the deep time embedded in the materials and sounds.