Robin Meier Wiratunga’s new work emerged from a residency at CERN in Geneva, where he explored cosmological theories about the end of the universe in close dialogue with theoretical physicists. Scenarios such as the Big Crunch, in which the expansion of the universe reverses, or the Big Rip, where matter is gradually torn apart, form […]
2016
Synchronicity (Thailand)
In a mangrove forest in Thailand live fireflies (Pteroptyx malaccae) synchronise their flashes with computer controlled LED’s. By establishing a light-based form of communication with the insects, the artists influence the rhythmic flashing of large colonies of fireflies. A silent orchestra harmonises without the need for a conductor. With no central control, computers and insects interact in this rhythmic composition of light.
2023
Apophenia
A neuroscientist, a dancer, a pigeon fancier and a string trio connect neuronal patterns in the brain with patterns in bird flocks, dance, music and language : “neuromancer meets ornithomancer”.
2009
Truce: Strategies for Post-Apocalyptic Computation (2009)
Male mosquitoes change their buzzing frequency to match that of a female mosquito. We take advantage of this synchronisation to engage the mosquitoes in song, inspired by the North Indian vocal tradition of Dhrupad.
2015
Synchronicity
Synchronicity is an installation exploring the emergence of natural cycles and synchrony inside an artificial biosphere. Live fireflies and crickets are made to flash and chirp in unison with two synchronising pendulums by manipulating the insect’s behaviour through lights and sounds. Inspired by this synchrony an array of electronic devices join the chorus and start to flicker, buzz or move in sync.
2026
B5‘s Dream
B5—his name shared with a musical note—was an adult zebra finch who became the subject of a study in a lab. One night, during the spring of 2023 as he slept for 11 hours, a recording of his neural activity revealed hundreds of short, sonic dreams.
2015
Song for Ghost Travelers (2015)
Song for Ghost Travellers is a score for twelve pigeons and three musicians. Inspired by the Chinese tradition of attaching spherical flutes to pigeons, this performance explores ideas of chance and structure through patterns of flying birds and movements of trains inside a railway station.
2015
Fossil Records
Fossil Records is a reconstruction of the sounds emitted by a fossilised insect. By creating a digital model of a highly detailed fossil's stridulatory file its sound was made to come alive again and was then printed on a playable steel/copper disk in reference to the Golden Record on NASA's voyager space probe: A record playing sounds from millions of years ago - in symmetry to a future civilisation discovering the Voyager space probe millions of years from now.
2024
Nature Manifesto with Björk
Conceived as a post-optimistic manifesto on nature, this sound piece by Björk and Aleph addresses the unprecedented loss of biodiversity and the collapse of ecosystems. Björk’s voice is accompanied by Robin Meier Wiratunga with the cries of extinct or endangered animals. Reading this nature manifesto, her voice blends with animal vocalisations and merges with soundscapes […]
2023
Chimera States: Synchronicity exhibition at EPFL, Switzerland
Current mathematical models don't capture the complexities of the fireflies' synchronizing behaviour, instigating the creation of new models called Chimera States. A collaboration with the mathematics department of Northwestern University resulted in a multichannel video installation "Chimera States", displayed at EPFL Pavilions in 2023.
2023
Synchronicity (16mm)
16mm photographic film was directly exposed to the light of two captive fireflies (Pteroptyx malaccae). Inside a dark space, without camera or optics, the insects were simply placed on an analogue film strip.
2023
Apophenia Mumbai Urban Art Festival
Experimental Documentary shot in Dharavi, Mumbai in January 2023 during the Apophenia performance for Mumbai Urban Art Festival.
2024
Waves Beneath an Ocean of Wet Air
Waves beneath an ocean of wet air is an interactive musical composition in the form of seven radio stations that drift in and out of reception. A website invites listeners to explore an assembly of sounds collected over the years in deserts, oceans, cities and labs by tuning into its overlapping frequencies.
2019
Collective Feeding
In 2014, Dutch authorities began to kill a small population of house crows (corvus splendens) near the Port of Rotterdam. The crows likely arrived from Sri Lanka around 1994 as stowaways on a commercial container boat. Apparently, international trade in a country is now understood to be the most reliable predictor of the number of introduced species found there. The house crows were all killed, except for one that found shelter in a Dutch apartment.
2023
Meditations for the End of the Universe
Inhale, exhale and relax for the ultimate apocalypse. Embark on an astral projection to the astrophysical end of the universe.
2023
Singing with the Insect Choir: A swarm reacting to voices of two scientists
In 1861, the entomologist Osten-Sacken refers to a Cuban naturalist who once told him that whenever the note ‘A’ was played by a band, the swarm of mosquitoes hovering over his head suddenly flew downward toward his face. More recently, during their research on mosquitoes and chironomids, scientists Lionel Feugère and Gabriella Gibson also noticed how these insects react to the sound of their voices. A musical relationship unfolds as night falls on the marshes of Northward Hill in northern Kent.
2011
The Tragedy of the Commons
The Tragedy of the Commons consists of a live experiment in the form of an installation, in which thousands of Atta ants – commonly known as leafcutter ants – create a choreography while reacting to certain flavours and smells expertly selected by Robin Meier and Ali Momeni with the help of the Laboratory of Comparative and Experimental Ethology […]
2022
Truce (Concert Version)
Concert for live mosquitoes, Dhrupad singer and Ondes Martenot
2022
Dreamachine
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 the parisian air. Several musicians connect with this sensorial experience through a series of concerts – a trip to be enjoyed with your eyes closed.
2020
Offspring for Pierre Huyghe
Satie Variations is a generative composition commissioned by Pierre Huyghe for a new version of his Untitled (Light Show). The composition is a custom algorithm based on a recurrent neural network (Performance RNN, Max, Bach library, etc.) and is trained to play infinite variations of Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies 1 & 3.
2018
Satellite Sonata
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.
2014
F93 – space balloon
production 2013: f93 (Stéphane Coulaud), CNES, Planète Sciencesin collaboration with the teachers Jean-Michel Rossi and Jeff Lance and their students Projet éducatif: une caméra filme depuis un ballon météorologique pendant sa montée jusqu’à 30km. après une vue imprenable sur la terre et l’espace depuis la limite de l’atmosphère terrestre le ballon éclate et la caméra commence sa descente turbulente au […]
2013
If The Lion Could Speak (2012)
Robin Meier and Ali Momeni Curated by Virginie Bourget for Domaine Garenne Lemot (Conseil Général Loire-Atlantique), Clisson, France Matériaux divers, Apis mellifera ligustica, dite abeille italienne Extraits du Golden Record de Voyager : – 55 salutations de 55 langues – Salutations de l’ONU – Tomaso Albinoni, Adagio en sol majeur – Jean Sébastien Bach, Variations […]
