DAVID HAINES & JOYCE HINTERDING

EarthStar

Multimedia installation, HD video, single-channel projection from HD player, 16:9, colour, silent. Solar image sequences processed from Hydrogen-Alpha source, shot on location in the Blue Mountains NSW and Kellerberrin WA, July – October 2008;

Live sound, from Custom VLF antennae, graphite and polyethylene-coated copper wire, audio filters, mixing desk and powered stereo speakers;

Two Ozone accords consisting of synthetic aroma molecules including Helional (alpha-methyl-1,3- benzodioxole-5-propanal) and Ozonil (tm) in a base of ISO E Super (1-(2,3,8,8-tetramethyl-1,3,4,5,6,7- hexahydronaphthalen-2-yl)ethanone) and Hedione (methyl 3-oxo-2-pentylcyclopentaneacetate); Peltier refrigeration units, glass containers with paper smelling strips.

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EarthStar is an exploration of electromagnetic and vibrational energy.

The installation comprises three elements; a formal dynamic space is established between the singular and spectacular footage of the solar chromo-sphere captured by the artists using a Hydrogen-Alpha telescope. Sitting in opposition to this are two luminous refrigeration units containing virtual aroma compositions of synthesised molecules that represent states of ozone. Building a bridge between these two elements is a custom-built resonating and receiving system of VLF antennae monitoring the local electromagnetic environment and the effects of the solar winds on our atmosphere. This system provides a real-time, immersive soundtrack.

At its heart, EarthStar is an experience of frequencies: the frequency and wavelength of the light captured by the telescope; the multiple frequencies of the sun’s radiation channelled through the customised antennae; and according to certain theories on scent, the vibrational frequencies of molecules we experience as smell.

While the work employs the rigorous methodology and objective tools of science, its overall effect is to create a poetically charged experience that ultimately emphasises the elemental and mythic qualities of the sun.

Throughout Haines and Hinterding’s work, digital and analogue come together with the powerful but often hidden forces of the world at large. We sense, even at the fundamental level of felt vibration or smell, some of the stranger relations between the natural and technical forces that surround us. Any easy division between ‘natural’ and ‘technical’ breaks down. Instead, we are given access to the rich ecologies that arise between the force of manufactured signal and the ‘electricity we didn’t make.’1

  1. Andrew Murphie, “Joyce Hinterding and David Haines: High Res Resonations with the Milky Way,” ACM Computers
    in Entertainment 7    , no. 2 (June 2009).

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Figure 1. Hydrogen Alpha Golden Sun (2008), photograph by David Haines. Reproduced courtesy the artists and BREENSPACE, Sydney

Figure 2. Hydrogen Alpha chromatograph (2008), photograph by David Haines. Reproduced courtesy the artists and BREENSPACE, Sydney.

Figure 3. Installation view of EarthStar and molecular compositions (2008), photograph by Michael Myers. Reproduced courtesy the artists and BREENSPACE, Sydney.

Figure 4. Installation view of EarthStar VLF antennas (2008), photograph by Haines/Hinterding. Reproduced courtesy the artists and BREENSPACE, Sydney.

Figure 5. Hydrogen Alpha White Sun (2008), photograph by David Haines. Reproduced courtesy the artists and BREENSPACE, Sydney.

Figure 6. Hydrogen Alpha Cloud (2008), photograph by David Haines. Reproduced courtesy the artists and BREENSPACE, Sydney.