Remote Magnetometer, 2022. Electronics (computer, audio interface, bass pickups, speakers, software), hardware, mixed materials. ~ 14 in x 14 in x 10-27 feet.
Remote Magnetometer is a sound instrument which is based physically and conceptually on the Magnetometer scientific instrument on the NOAA-NASA GOES-16 weather satellite, which monitors solar wind colliding with the magnetosphere, like the polar auroras. The long wires of the piece’s boom vibrate with small motors controlled by near-real-time data from the Magnetometer. RM uses electronic bass pickups to capture the string’s vibration as sound, emitted from speakers within. The ambient environment of the viewer is combined with the remote atmospheric phenomena.
Scientific instruments such as the magnetometer on the NOAA satellite GOES-16 monitor the energy of the sun interacting with the Earth’s magnetosphere, which protects the Earth from the Sun’s deadly radiation. The data from the satellite is directed to RM through an existing collaborative satellite transmission receiving station project, Here GOES Radiotelescope, installed long-term at Wave Farm, in Acra, NY.
The satellites we place in Earth’s orbit are in essence our robot avatars—we experience alien, deadly, distant orbital space through their sensor-based eyes, ears, and skin. This project is intended to convey the reality and activity of a particular sensor instrument aboard an operational satellite to have a way of directly sensing-by-proxy what it detects. The project mission is to inspire an appreciation for infrastructure systems we rely on and the protective nature of Earth as a whole for life.
Remote Magnetometer is made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Officer of the Governor and the New York State Legislature through a Support for Artists Grant, fiscally sponsored by Wave Farm.
