Cosmophony: audio-visual representations of the Universe

“Cosmophony” was a seminar held at the RMIT Swanston Academic Building, Saturday 15 December 2018, 1 – 4 pm, where developments in both art and science were be presented and discussed, alongside the conceptual and cultural dimensions of such research. The event featured presentations of works by both artists and scientists working in the fields of high energy physics, cosmology, and optical and radio astronomy. Project documentation presented included Chris Henschke’s “Song of the Muons” (2016), supported by art@CMS and the University of Melbourne, Michaela Gleave’s, A “Galaxy of Suns” app, supported by ANAT. As Barry Barish, Nobel Laureate, director of the LIGO experiment which sonified cosmic events such as colliding black holes (and fan of data sonification and “Song of the Muons”), said, we can now hear ‘the soundtrack of the universe.’ Presentation participants included Dr Dwayne Hamacher (University of Melbourne) and Pamela Bain (Swinburne University).