Sound artist Gerriet K. Sharma designs sound sculptures of BESSY VSR
Gerriet K. Sharma is setting up the icosahedral loudspeaker, photo: Kristijan Smok (izlog)
From 13 to 19 July 2016, the artist will be recording sounds on location
The electron storage ring BESSY II is the backdrop for an extraordinary art project. Sound artist Gerriet K. Sharma of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz will translate the principles of accelerator physics into three-dimensional acoustic compositions. From 13 to 19 July 2016, the artist will be on location to record sounds directly in the electron storage ring.
The electron storage ring BESSY II is the backdrop for an extraordinary art project. Sound artist Gerriet K. Sharma of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz will translate the principles of accelerator physics into three-dimensional acoustic compositions. From 13 to 19 July 2016, the artist will be on location to record sounds directly in the electron storage ring.
Gerriet K. Sharma found inspiration for this work in the expansion project BESSY VSR. Accelerator experts at HZB want to expand the synchrotron radiation source BESSY II into a variable-pulse-length storage ring – as the first team to do so worldwide. Each measuring station will then offer a choice between long and short light pulses. The artist has been working on this extraordinary project together with HZB researchers since the spring of 2016, to transform accelerator physics into an extraordinary 3D sound experience.
To generate the unique soundscapes of BESSY VSR, Gerriet K. Sharma is using an icosahedral loudspeaker. The acoustic figures it produces move almost physically through the room. “The combination of art and science is very prominent in this project. Both work with frequencies, amplitudes and overlays – just in different media,” says Kerstin Berthold, who is supervising the art project at HZB together with researchers from the Institute for Accelerator Physics.
After many months of intensive compositional work, the artist plans to present his work in the summer of 2017.
Notice for employees:
While he is working at BESSY II, the artist will be sampling tone and sound sequences in the ring, foyer and auditorium. Please understand that it may briefly get a little louder than usual, at times.
Project partners:
Gerriet K. Sharma (artist)
studied media art at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, and composition and computer music at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. He is currently writing his doctoral thesis at the renowned art university in Graz on “Composing Sculptural Sound Phenomena in Computer Music”. Among other distinctions, he received the 2008 German Soundart Award.
Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin
Institute for Accelerator Physics
Paul Goslawski, Godehard Wüstefeld and Martin Ruprecht
Communication Departement
Kerstin Berthold
- Spintronics at BESSY II: Real-time analysis of magnetic bilayer systemsSpintronic devices enable data processing with significantly lower energy consumption. They are based on the interaction between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic layers. Now, a team from Freie Universität Berlin, HZB and Uppsala University has succeeded in tracking, for each layer separately, how the magnetic order changes after a short laser pulse has excited the system. They were also able to identify the main cause of the loss of antiferromagnetic order in the oxide layer: the excitation is transported from the hot electrons in the ferromagnetic metal to the spins in the antiferromagnet.
- Electrocatalysts: New model for charge separation at the solid-liquid interfaceHydrogen is at the heart of the transition to carbon neutrality, as both an energy carrier and a reagent for green chemistry. However, large-scale production of hydrogen via electrolysis, as well as the production of many other chemical products, requires significantly cheaper and more efficient catalysts. A precise understanding of the electrochemical processes that take place at the interface between the solid catalyst and the liquid medium is highly useful for developing better electrocatalysts. In the journal Nature Communications, an European team has now presented a powerful model that determines charge separation at the interface, the formation of the electric double layer and local electric potential variations, and the resulting influence on the catalytic activity.
- Theory meets practice – We’re heading back to HTW Berlin!The HZB’s BIPV consultancy office (BAIP) is once again coordinating and delivering the lecture series “Building-Integrated Photovoltaics”.