Myriads (2024)

2024
MATERIALS: polished stainless steel (2500x273x273mm), scintillator detector, custom electronic circuitry, audio amplifier, subwoofer, led light, wire (3x)
MEASUREMENTS: site specific / 69 x 24 x 4,6m
EXHIBITION HISTORY: Observatoriebeholderen, Aarhus. Denmark. 2024

 

Cosmic rays, high-energy particles originating from space, constantly bombard the Earth. Although the atmosphere blocks most of them, the few that make it through create showers of secondary particles (among them muons) that reach the planet’s surface. This results in an invisible flux that continuously surrounds and bathes our environment – including the human body.

The new site-specific installation, Myriads, transforms a 7600 m3 former underground water reservoir into a sensory exploration of this cosmic phenomenon. In collaboration with the Niels Bohr Institute, Skjødt Hasselstrøm has developed particle detectors capable of capturing and amplifying muons, translating the imperceptible flow of cosmic rays into sound and light. Myriads thus offers a rare glimpse into the omnipresence of this phenomenon, which extends far beyond the boundaries of the planet we inhabit.

 

 

 

Commissioned by Kulbroen

Special thanks to Jørgen Beck Hansen, Troels Christian Petersen, and Peter Laursen of the Niels Bohr Institute. Søren Løkkegaard, Kristian Rasmussen, Jakob Dyreby, Troels Mikkelsen & Hesselaa Smedje, Søren Lyngsø Knudsen, Louise Steiwer, Jeppe Klitgaard Stricker, Helga Marie Jansson, Maria Have, and Jesper Elg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos by Niels Nygaard