DARK FRINGE PROJECT PROPOSAL
“Dark Fringe” is a new-media installation born from a year-long dialogue between astrophysicist Max Isi and visual/sonic artist Jules Gimbrone. Dark Fringe elucidates the conceptual continuity between specialized scientific analysis utilized by astrophysicists as they perceive and represent cosmic occurrences (i.e. the connections between the instruments sensing gravitational waves as an echo of black holes colliding billions of years ago) with the sensing potential and meaning-making of a body-in-flux. Drawing from Gimbrone’s artistic modality ‘Trans-Sensing’, parallels emerge between the quest for cosmic revelations and a form of transgender embodiment that actively seeks, and frequently senses, a dysmorphic ecstatic unknown.
This project uses technologies and analytic systems from the field of astrophysics as a mechanism through which to articulate a transgender poetics of being. Gravitational waves are a fundamental feature of Nature: ripples of gravity that permeate space and time, carrying to us echoes from distant cosmic catastrophes. Pervasive yet elusive, gravitational waves are both an object of study in their own right, as well as messengers that offer us glimpses of otherwise inscrutable aspects of reality: the fabric of space-time, black holes, and the Big Bang itself. The process of gravitational wave detection and interpretation—in going from a measurement in a lab to theories about space and time—thus involves bridging basic immediate materiality with the ultimately abstract: putting mirrors, lasers, software and statistical tools to the service of grasping some of the most unfathomable features of our Universe. In this process, representation (symbolic, mathematical, narrative, conceptual and visual) is indispensable for forming a sense of understanding.
ROOM #1 : NOISE HUNTER COMPOSITION
Conceived of as a three-room installation, the first room of Dark Fringe consists of a multi-channel audio piece sourced from the unwanted “noise” surrounding the instrument used to detect gravitational waves; four interferometers spaced in different locations throughout the world. Both as a measurement in audio production (i.e. signal-to-noise ratio), and in a variety of cross-disciplinary analytics, determining what is considered ‘noise’ versus what is considered “signal” is fundamental to assessing the values and beliefs of that system.This sonic detritus, composed of the rumbling of earthquakes, distortions and interferences from quantum, electronic, and thermal noise is used as material to create an immersive sonic experience. Through rendering the “noise” through a metric of composition choices, the noise is transformed into a thing of beauty that deserves and elicits a type of deep listening, thus rendering it into a “signal”.
ROOM #2 :TRANS SENSOR
The second room holds a series of ‘trans sensors’ which employ the material of the interferometer; two way mirrors, lasers, metal trusses, and fuses them with Gimbrone’s hybrid sculptural language. These sensors will be inefficient and perverted as they sense and represent a distorted influx of information, text, images, sound, and audience interaction will get reformed into a jumbled contortion of meaning.
In our visually dominant culture, difference is often flattened into two-dimensional representations, subject to categorization, scrutiny, and objectification. I aim to disrupt this paradigm by exploring the auditory realm as a means to evoke a more nuanced understanding of subjectivity. Through blurring the boundaries between sound/music composition and visual art, my project seeks to challenge social and political binaries, such as man/woman, ultimately rendering them in their failure. This strategy aims to foster a deeper artistic, intellectual, and communal impact by inviting audiences to engage with complexity beyond mere visual interpretation.
IMAGES FROM INTERFEROMETER FROM LIGO
EXAMPLES OF NEW WORK “MORE SOUND THAN BODY”
EXAMPLES OF OLDER WORK
ROOM #3 : COLLISION TOKEN
The third room is filled with small 3-D renderings of black holes colliding as represented from the data that Isi collected as gravitational waves. These small tokens seek to objectify and make human scale that which is outside of the realm of an embodied understanding. The tokens will be installed on top of a vibrating stage.
In my artistic practice, I explore the intersection of sensing and perception within transgender experience. Sound, particularly vibration, serves as a key element, enabling exploration of speculative poetics concerning existence and transformation. Through metaphorical engagement with scientific concepts, I seek to challenge conventional perceptions of the unknown. My work is a direct response to the limitations imposed by quantitative measurement systems on marginalized subjectivities, advocating for a more expansive conception of selfhood.