Curated by Shazeb Shaikh
Produced by Pro Helvetia and Story of Foundation
Thanks to Eric Michel (Paris Observatory), Luc Labenne (Labenne Meteorites), Matthieu Gounelle (Paris Museum of Natural History) and SVARAM (Pondicherry Musical Instruments and Research)
Workshop
Satellite Sonata was a musical encounter with 5 local musicians (Mumbai Police Band and Goa Orchestra) conducted by Santiago Lusardi-Girelli for the Story of Space Festival, an educational and artistic event in Panjim, Goa.
Through recordings, videos and workshops, we embarked on new musical territory by improvising on a score generated from satellite data, exploring contemporary playing techniques and practicing intuitive improvisations, in order to make a series of impromptu appearances in public spaces around the city of Panjim.
In parallel, a 4.5 billion year old meteorite was exhibited at the Adil Shah Gallery in Panjim, accompanied by recordings of the performances. Thanks to it’s vertical cuts, the meteorite also doubles as a musical instrument and can be played with a bow to produces a series of resonating tones.
Satellite Sonata
Launched in 2006, the CoRoT satellite (lead by the French Space Agency CNES) measured the minuscule variations of the light of the stars. Through analysis of this twinkling of the stars, scientists can understand the physical composition of stars, their life cycles or even detect planets rotating around them.
In 2008 Prof. Eric Michel of the Paris Observatory develops a method that allows him to translate the CoRoT measurements into sound and thus listen to waves produced by the stars. In 2011, with Prof. Michel’s help, I reproduce and expand his method to create a series of new sounds for the DYNASTY exhibition at the Paris Museum of Modern Art.
For Satellite Sonata, I revisit the sonification techniques I developed together with Prof. Michel and adapt them to the composition of an instrumental score. First the satellite data is parsed by a custom computer program to calculate the spectral sounds of the starlight. Then, I rewrite the resulting sounds for brass ensemble by dividing the complex sounds into several partials or layers, each layer being played by an instrument – a technique developed by spectralist composers such as Tristan Murail and Gérard Grisey.
Data from CoRoT Satellite
Selection of contemporary playing styles from various Gerard Grisey scores
Transcription of satellite data for 5 wind instruments
Muonionalusta
The molten core of a protoplanet, one of the earliest bodies to take shape during the formation of our solar system, hurls through space for 4.5653 billion years. After a violent collision that rips it out of the planetary disk that will eventually become our solar system, it cools down a few degrees Celsius every 100’000 years. It cools down so slowly, that its atoms interlock to form a kind of crystallised metal. It finally collides with Earth about 1 million years ago and is transported through four ice ages to the Tundra of Sweden near the Muonio river.
Using techniques perfected over years by artists such as Pinuccio Sciola in Sardinia, Italy and Svaram Musical Research in Pondicherry, India, this iron from the sky is made to vibrate at it’s very own resonant frequencies, thus giving physical form to the sounds of the stars. Meteoric iron was the first source of metal for the earliest humans to produce artefacts, such as blades or coins. It is probably the oldest thing you will ever touch.
Curated by Vinciane Despret and Nicolas DoninProduced by Centre Pompidou (Joséphine Huppert) and Pro Helvetia Truce: Strategies for Post-Apocalyptic Computation by Robin Meier and Ali Momeni (2009) Adaptation by Robin Meier for live Dhurpad and Ondes Martenot with Nirmalya Dey
Curated by Vinciane Despret and Nicolas DoninProduced by Centre Pompidou (Joséphine Huppert) and Pro Helvetia Truce: Strategies for Post-Apocalyptic Computation by Robin Meier and Ali Momeni (2009) Adaptation by Robin Meier for live Dhurpad and Ondes Martenot with Nirmalya Dey
During la Nuit Blanche in Paris, Dream Machine transformed the Paris Art Lab pavilion into a hypnotic sound installation. This concert-installation channeled the ghosts of Brion Gysin, Marian Zazeela and La Monte Young propagating clouds of psychedelic beat culture into
During la Nuit Blanche in Paris, Dream Machine transformed the Paris Art Lab pavilion into a hypnotic sound installation. This concert-installation channeled the ghosts of Brion Gysin, Marian Zazeela and La Monte Young propagating clouds of psychedelic beat culture into
Robin Meier: Algorithmic composition for “Offspring” by Pierre Huyghe (Sensor based, self-generative system for sound and light machine)Computer, SoftwareRome and Paris 2019Commissioned by Pierre Huyghe StudioPhoto credit: Anne Stenne Satie Variations is a generative composition commissioned by Pierre Huyghe for
Robin Meier: Algorithmic composition for “Offspring” by Pierre Huyghe (Sensor based, self-generative system for sound and light machine)Computer, SoftwareRome and Paris 2019Commissioned by Pierre Huyghe StudioPhoto credit: Anne Stenne Satie Variations is a generative composition commissioned by Pierre Huyghe for
Robin Meier: Collective Feeding, 2019 Performance for 2 wind instruments, 2 megaphones, wild crows, rice, eggs. Duration ca. 20 minutes Curated by Natasha Ginwala Flute: Johan Peiris, Sax: Akeel V Produced by Pro Helvetia and Colomboscope Special thanks to Kaeli Swift for
Robin Meier: Collective Feeding, 2019 Performance for 2 wind instruments, 2 megaphones, wild crows, rice, eggs. Duration ca. 20 minutes Curated by Natasha Ginwala Flute: Johan Peiris, Sax: Akeel V Produced by Pro Helvetia and Colomboscope Special thanks to Kaeli Swift for
A contribution by Bastien Gallet and myself to a special issue of Architectural Design (Volume 87, Issue 4 – July 2017) edited by Skylar Tibbits, “AD Autonomous Assembly: Designing for a New Era of Collective Construction“. PDF link below: Related
A contribution by Bastien Gallet and myself to a special issue of Architectural Design (Volume 87, Issue 4 – July 2017) edited by Skylar Tibbits, “AD Autonomous Assembly: Designing for a New Era of Collective Construction“. PDF link below: Related
Synchronicity (Thailand) is shown at Arsenal Contemporary NY – 214 Bowery – from 6 March to 22 April 2018. Press Release Article in Whitewall 39 must-see shows in artnet Thank you Pierre and Anne-Marie Trahan, Isabelle Kowal, Loreta Lamargese, Elise Gallant and last
Synchronicity (Thailand) is shown at Arsenal Contemporary NY – 214 Bowery – from 6 March to 22 April 2018. Press Release Article in Whitewall 39 must-see shows in artnet Thank you Pierre and Anne-Marie Trahan, Isabelle Kowal, Loreta Lamargese, Elise Gallant and last
Robin Meier and André Gwerder 2017 Exhibited at MSU Broad Museum East Lansing, Michigan Group exhibition: The Transported Man, April 29 – Oct 22 2017 Curated by Marc-Olivier Wahler Supported by MSU Federal Credit Union, the Swiss Arts Council Pro
Robin Meier and André Gwerder 2017 Exhibited at MSU Broad Museum East Lansing, Michigan Group exhibition: The Transported Man, April 29 – Oct 22 2017 Curated by Marc-Olivier Wahler Supported by MSU Federal Credit Union, the Swiss Arts Council Pro
For the 11th Shanghai Biennale RAQS invited me to show Song for Ghost Travellers and Fossil Records. What an amazing experience and fascinating exhibition! Very happy to have met so many new artists, curators, writers and most of all friends. I
For the 11th Shanghai Biennale RAQS invited me to show Song for Ghost Travellers and Fossil Records. What an amazing experience and fascinating exhibition! Very happy to have met so many new artists, curators, writers and most of all friends. I
Great article in the current issue of Dissonance by Bastien Gallet on Synchronicity at Art Basel. Synchronisation vs synchronicity Of animal music and man’s uselessness. About an installation by Robin Meier Bastien Gallet Synchronicity. That is the title of an installation
Great article in the current issue of Dissonance by Bastien Gallet on Synchronicity at Art Basel. Synchronisation vs synchronicity Of animal music and man’s uselessness. About an installation by Robin Meier Bastien Gallet Synchronicity. That is the title of an installation