Week 9: Space + Art (Travis Shibata-Bardaro)

    Visual representation is a helpful tool that pioneers the advancement of sciences and technologies. The power of visual aesthetics is highlighted in Carl Sagan’s short film Pale Blue Dot, which utilizes the tiny size of the Earth in comparison to the vastness of space to evoke emotions and advocate for peace and collaboration. Another short film utilizing the power of the visual is Power of Ten. In the following film the viewer is taken on a journey of magnitudes starting from a one-by-one meter image of a sleeping man on a picnic blanket and then gradually expanding to cosmic proportions up to 1024 meters before going all the way down to the quarks of a carbon proton (Eames and Eames). Utilizing both photography and artist interpretations, Power of Ten makes size intuitively comprehensible. 

Video 1: Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem: “In Paradisum” (Fauré)

Video 2: György Ligeti’s soundtrack used in 2001: A Space Odyssey (Ligeti)

However, I want to focus on another aesthetic tool, specifically the sound or music of space. Music has always been used as a medium to express feelings and thoughts. Even in ancient times, people were captivated by celestial bodies and their fascination gave rise to heavenly music (Neal 2:00). For instance, Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem includes an antiphon called “In Paradisum,” which is a very gentle and loving piece that captures the essence of what heaven or paradise might feel like (Neal 2:21). In a more modern context, György Ligeti’s famous music used in 2001: A Space Odyssey arguably set the standard for sound design surrounding space exploration in the 20th century (Neal 5:38). The film itself greatly influenced people’s expectations regarding space exploration and invaded popular culture in the form of toys, books, films, television shows, and even the creation of Space Mountain in Disneyland (Neal 7:14). Space Mountain’s theme sound evokes a sensation of space and adventure (Neal 7:44). Then there are the iconic space franchises including Star Trek, Star Wars, and Alien that all feature soundtracks that make people think of space exploration oddly enough. 

Beyond the music of Earth, Honor Harger, who considers herself an artist-technologist listens to the fascinating and weird noises of space (Harger 2:49). She does this by converting radio waves emitted by various celestial bodies into audible sounds by using simple analog techniques (Harger 3:36). This includes the radio waves of cosmic radiation left over from the birth of the universe, which is the first experimental evidence of the existence of the Big Bang and in which she calls the oldest sound you will ever hear (Harger 10:11). 

Video 3: “The oldest sound you will ever hear” - Recording of cosmic radiation left over from the birth of the universe (“Recording captures”)


In addition to radio waves, the celestial bodies in space, particularly stars, produce sound waves in the outermost layers as a result of temperature differences and turbulence making the star resonate like a bell (Tootell). Consequently, our own Sun is performing an orchestral concert that will continue for five more billion years (Landau). These sounds are important as they provide information on stars’ composition, age, size, and how they contributed to the evolution of our Milky Way galaxy (Landau). 

As an aside, radio astronomy showcases the power of other senses and has been pivotal in inspiring blind or visually impaired individuals much like iconic space films and telescope images of galaxies have inspired sighted people (Broderick). Hopefully radio astronomy acts as a stepping stone for encouraging further inclusion of minorities. 


Works Cited:


Broderick, Timmy. “Audio Astronomy Unlocks a Universe of Sound.” Scientific American, 5 Jan. 2023, www.scientificamerican.com/article/audio-astronomy-unlocks-a-universe-of-sound/. 


Eames, Charles and Ray Eames. “Powers of Ten™ (1977).” YouTube, uploaded by Eames Office, 26 August 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0. 


Fauré, Gabriel. “Gabriel Fauré - Requiem : ‘In Paradisum’.” YouTube, uploaded by Barbebleuei, 15 December 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-i1ESIRKdA


Harger, Honor. “A history of the universe in sound.” TED, 2011, https://www.ted.com/talks/honor_harger_a_history_of_the_universe_in_sound?language=en.


Landau, Elizabeth. “Symphony of Stars: The Science of Stellar Sound Waves.” NASA, 30 July 2018, exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/1516/symphony-of-stars-the-science-of-stellar-sound-waves/. 


Ligeti, György. “Ligeti: Music from 2001 Space Odyssey.” YouTube, uploaded by VSP Musical, 11 July 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2o83cSYTpg. 


Neal, Kenny. What Does Space Sound Like? The Kennedy Center, 4 Apr. 2022, https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/media-and-interactives/media/music/art-space/. 


“Recording captures hiss of Big Bang Radiation.” YouTube, uploaded by New Scientist, 28 February 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJJmFnMea1Q. 


Sagan, Carl. “Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot.” YouTube, uploaded by carlsagandotcom, 24 March 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupToqz1e2g.


Tootell, Andy, and Bill Chaplin. “Asteroseismology: Using the Natural Music of the Stars.” University of Birmingham, 4 Feb. 2011. 

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