Cosmic Soundscape for Fringe: an Interstellar Symphony
Posted on: Mon 1 Mar 2021
StellarSphere Full Dome Sound Bath Experience, is an exceptional unity of art, science and spirituality, offering a meditative dance amongst the cosmos.
The sold-out performance has proved popular amongst Fringe-goers seeking that other worldly experience. Festival City’s Emma Wotzke reviews the show.
The full-dome, immersive experience has been brought to life at the Adelaide Planetarium by Sacred Resonance co-directors, Darren Curtis and Bradley Pitt – delivering a stunning harmonic display of celestial sounds and imagery.
Curtis and Pitt, both artists and composers, continue to draw on 22 years of collaborative experience from discoveries in musicology, archeoacoustics and spiritual thinking. Their work embodies the philosophy that all things have resonance and follow unique patterns in nature. StellarSphere extends this by drawing on theories from Kepler, Plato and Gustav, which propose that the solar system and planets also produce a distinct musical rhythm.
It is reported that some spacecrafts have devices capable of obtaining radio emissions that are converted by scientist into sound waves. By extracting this data from NASA’s search of deeper space and the solar system, Curtis and Pitt can translate gravitational waves and raw information through compositional software, producing a soundscape representative of their unique interpretation of cosmic sounds.
For fifty minutes, the audience is submerged in an expansive soundbath as the universe unfolds. The performance opens in the intimate surrounds of pitch black, with the delicate hum of both crystal and Tibetan singing bowls cascading the aural space. The overhead projection of a pillowy, night sky gives way to winking stars that beckon viewers to shift from one reality to the next. The soundscape transcends, including a harmony of digitised interstellar tones from the reaches of space. Images of satellites journey the spherical edges before giant celestial bodies float into the vastness of the solar system. The audience sails the fiery edges of the sun, the enormity of Jupiter and the heavenly span of Saturn’s rings. Low echoes meet with gentle hums to build a sense of momentum, giving rise to cycles of cosmic expression in a flow between stillness and expansiveness.
Gliding amongst galaxies revives a unique dance between wonder and mystery. The parameters of consciousness are redirected, while curiosity calls to a world beyond. A transition of darker metallic hues explodes in a kaleidoscope of bright patterns to reveal ancient geometric shapes, while mandalas duplicate in distinct, perpetual rhythm.
This unique performance is more than just a spectacularly mesmerising composition of sound and visuals, but also a clever unification of ancient wisdom, discovery and innovation. The physical experience pushes beyond just that, and offers a portal into the greater layers of reality to explore the natural order of the universe and the interconnected relationship between humans and the cosmos.
The original 18 shows are currently a sell-out but an extra show has been added Saturday 6th March at 9.20 pm.
Produced by Emma Wotzke
