Grants and residencies

Research and art

MA, Artist, Cultural worker Berger Erich

64900 €

Spectral Landscapes (SL)

Tieteellinen tutkimus ja taiteellinen työ / niihin pohjautuva työ | Kaksivuotinen

SL is an artistic investigation into spectral ecologies, the omnipresent natural and human made emissions of the electro-magnetic (EM) spectrum. The focus of SL is on the both ends of the EM spectrum where anthropogenic emissions coincide with the natural. First, radioactivity with gamma radiation (30-300 Ehz) and second, very low frequency radio waves (VLF, 3-30 Khz). We can encounter both phenomena as natural within the landscape but also man made within our build infrastructure. We have gamma radiation produced by radioactive minerals decaying in the bedrock and as a product of nuclear fission in the nuclear power plants. We also have VLF produced by earth’s processes and as well by every single man made electric device. Together they constitute an invisible hybrid formed by a natural spectral landscape and anthropogenic spectres. The aim is to investigate the shape and form of those invisible shadows, how they change over time and how to find ways to experience them. The implementation is in three layers: 1) Construction of a drone which is equipped with a scintillation detector for gamma rays and a VLF receiver for the radio component 2) EM data will be gathered by scanning and mapping the air volumes above selected landscapes and architecture. 3) The production of a series of artworks with the aim to create a human/SL relationship: a large scale video/data work, public performances with on site interventions and a yet undefined work depended on the data gathered.