IN THIS ROOM EVERYWHERE

Audio visual installation: 3x portrait aspect 4K screens
with prerecorded and generative audio processing and 1x landscape aspect subtitles screen (43 mins)
Debut at Science Gallery Melbourne ‘Dark Matters’ Exhibition - August 2023

‘In this Room. Everywhere.’ is a unified and immersive LED screen triptych, housed in a dark room installation. This ten-part audio-visual experience on dark matter uses live generative sound from the Science Gallery Melbourne exhibition space in many of the pieces to contribute in real time to this multi-media work. This triptych has no beginning or end and audiences can enter at any time. It weaves poetic and creative narratives on dark matter as well as the inclusion of scientists detailing one of the biggest mysteries of the universe.

Dark matter makes up most of the matter in the universe but we can’t directly see it. It doesn’t emit, reflect or absorb light but it is all around us. Italian experimental particle physicist and Director-General at CERN, Fabiola Gianotti has explained, ‘Dark matter is everywhere. In this room. Everywhere.’ Every day we go about our lives unaware vital components of the universe pass through our bodies without us even noticing: neutrinos, gravitational waves, cosmic rays, infrared radiation, ultraviolet radiation, microwaves and dark matter. We want the SGM audience to be part of the ongoing conversation on dark matter and become a creative segment of the ‘glue’ and ‘scaffolding’ holding the universe together.

Scientists can’t directly detect dark matter (so far), yet its presence becomes apparent by how it impacts other things. Its effects can be observed through its interactions with gravity and how it behaves in space. With this triptych, we want to create a poetic narrative on impact and how even the smallest motions can affect other things in significant ways. Dark matter is the story of movement—galaxies should be flying apart without it and it influences galaxy rotations speeds. It tells a story about structures—about how the hot early universe cooled and formed. It is a narrative about locations—how it is found in regions around galaxies and in between galaxy clusters. With the live generative sound interludes, the gallery audience outside the triptych space influences the piece in real time. The movement of the audience is constantly evolving and changing and is picked up with microphones throughout the gallery space. The structure of the crowds guide the configuration of the frequencies played under some of our audio-visual work.

Sometimes and Watson have creatively used recordings from the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (while under construction), sounds from The ORGAN Experiment (UWA) and from visiting CERN, Geneva. Watson has used real-world scientific and artistic imagery to interpret and shape visual narratives.

With thanks to the generous contributions from Professor Alan Duffy, Dr. Ben McAllister and Dr. Grace Lawrence.

Thanks also to Leo K Fincher-Johnson for recordings at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory, Jackie Bondell and The ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics; Aaron Quiskamp for sounds from The ORGAN Experiment; Rod Dowler and team at ANSTO; Steven Goldfarb at CERN; Aaron Cuthbert, Simon Davies and David Coles.