Sound artist [Francesco Fabris](http://www.francescofabris.com)&#x2019;s new interactive installation _[Stellar](http://www.francescofabris.com/#!/?project=stellar-2015)_ creates a soundtrack for the cosmos. There is no sound in space, but Fabris used data to create sounds personalized to every star in the major constellations. He connected this data&#x2014; star brightness, temperature, and distance from the Earth&#x2014;to qualities of the sound associated with each star&#x2014; its frequency, amplitude, and duration. "I wanted to to conceptualize a link between electromagnetic and sound waves,&#x201d; writes Fabris in his description of the project. "The goal was to create a minimalistic, interactive device which would allow visitors to learn about specific stars through sound information.&#x201d; Visitors interact with the installation by moving their hands above it, guiding its robotic arms from star to star. See _Stellar_ in action below, as well as a behind-the-scenes making of video.

Stellar is an interactive installation and interface for scientific data sonification.

The project aims to create a sonic representation of stars and constellations through a dedicated interface.

Since there’s no sound in space, I wanted to conceptualize a link between electromagnetic and sound waves. The goal was to create a minimalistic, interactive device which would allow visitors to learn about specific stars through sound information.

The base of the system is a cylindrical structure, on top of which are displayed the most important constellations of the northern sky. Above this representation are two robotic arms. Two players can use the system at the same time, by moving their right hands over the two black, circular sensors. This allows them to move the robotic arms both horizontally and vertically. When the tip of one of the arms aligns with a star, the information obtained from it is translated into sound materials. The same concept is applied to the visual. When a star is selected, the circular viewpoint depicting the stars will light the actual color of the star. These colors are also projected on the walls. Visitors can see the information about the stars and their sonification in real time through one or two monitors placed next to the structure. The sound spatialization is provided with a quadraphonic system.

The project has been developed using Arduino and Max7 software. Data of more than 300 stars and 44 constellations have been stored from the open-source software Stellarium.org, and coded to interact with the robotic arms.

More info about the project: http://www.francescofabris.com/#!/?project=stellar

TEAM:

Francesco Fabris: concept, direction, programming
Patrycja Maksylewicz: 2D design
Przemysław Koleszka: manufacturing
Eloy Diez Polo: 3D design

www.francescofabris.com

Stellar

An interactive installation for data sonification which aims to create a sonic representation of stars and constellations through a dedicated interface.

Since there’s no sound in space, I wanted to to conceptualize a link between electromagnetic and sound waves. The goal was to create a minimalistic, interactive device which would allow visitors to learn about specific stars through sound information.

The base of the system is a cylindrical structure, on top of which are displayed the most important constellations of the northern sky. Above this representation are two robotic arms. When the tip of one of the arms aligns with a star, information on the selected star is transformed into simple sine waves, changing the colour the star emanates.

Two players can use the system at the same time, by moving their right hands over the two black, circular sensors. This allows them to move the robotic arm both horizontally and vertically.

The data detected for each star are: temperature (color index: red star = old and cold, blue star = hot and young), brightness (as seen from Earth), distance (from Earth) respectively transformed into: frequency (Hz), amplitude (dB), duration (ms).

The colder the star, the lower the pitch; the brighter it appears to us from Earth, the louder the sound; the further from Earth, the longer the duration.

For example, a bright, red star thousands light years from the Earth would generate a low frequency, loud and long sound. A blue star which is closer to the Earth would generate a high frequency, weaker and shorter sound.

The background drone-sound is white noise (which is a combination of all frequencies, the opposite of space-silence). When a constellation is triggered, the number representing its area (squared degrees), becomes the cutoff frequency of a low-pass filter for the noise signal. In this way, larger constellations will gradually increase their frequency.

The project has been developed using Arduino and Max7 software. Data of more than 300 stars and 44 constellations have been stored from the open-source software Stellarium.org, and coded to interact with the robotic arms.

TEAM:

Francesco Fabris: concept, direction, programming
Patrycja Maksylewicz: 2D design
Przemysław Koleszka: manufacturing
Eloy Diez Polo: 3D design

www.francescofabris.com

Stellar (The Making Of)

To learn more about Francesco Fabris' work, [click here](http://www.francescofabris.com/).

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