SpaceTime Helix

An optoacoustic instrument designed and performed by Michela Pelusio from 2012 till present

Concept

SpaceTime Helix is a site-specific audiovisual performance with a giant spinning standing wave in a white string, forming a large helicoid up to the ceiling. The surface is bright and transparent, with waves running over it, disappearing into the future, more and more distant in space-time. A white string, a line, a boundary, twists into a giant spinning standing wave, a large helicoid uniting earth and sky. A vibrational dance between physical and metaphysical phenomena, inducing retinal persistence of vision and synaesthetic journeying for those caught in its vortex.

With this work, I wanted to explore helical symmetries and infinity, frequencies and geometry, elementary particles and quantum physics, sonic visions and perceptions. SpaceTime Helix's performance is a play with elementary physics and particles. At the time when the symmetry is broken is the birth of the universe. In my work, I often play with physical and natural phenomena which stimulate the observation and the perception of our inner and outer space. This work is a metaphor for the return to the root of things, a dive into singularity, duality and multiplicity. Examine the weirdness and complexity of the macro and microcosmos and the architecture of the mind and nature.

The standing wave, a resonance in a string, is everywhere in nature in ancient science and in modern science. 2500 years ago Pythagoras invented the musical scale of frequencies and predicted that stars and planets move as in harmonic oscillation. He called it “Harmony of the Spheres”. Quantum mechanics is a theory from about 100 years ago, and in quantum mechanics, the standing waves are the energy levels of the particles. String theory is a very recent theory from the 1970s, also called 'the theory of everything'. In String theory particles themselves are just vibrations in small multidimensional strings. Every harmonic of the string is another type of particle. So standing waves and vibrating strings are really fundamental in our understanding of the world and the universe.A natural phenomenon which is almost a miracle right in front of your eyes.

SpaceTime Helix is a custom-made optoacoustic instrument designed by Michela Pelusio in 2011 and hardware developed with the help of the scientist Marnix Dekker.The Helix is built with Teensy USB development board. The light frequencies, colors, speed and sounds are manually controlled with a custom-made console. The acoustic sounds of the string are live amplified and sonificated by using different analog light and motion sensors.

Mutek Montreal said about SpaceTime Helix: Quantum physics meets audiovisual experimentation in Michela's performances and installations: interactive creations that bend space, light, matter and sound into malleable immersive environments...

SpaceTime Helix past performances

SOUND OF STOCKHOLM performing at Fylkingen venue on the 23 of November 2021 SW
NXT MUSEUM Amsterdam performing for 3 nights 16/17/18 November 2021 NL
INTERSTICE Festival at the venue LeCargo in Caen, Normandie October 2021 Normandie
IMMERSIVE SOUND NIGHT curated by MUTEK MONTREAL at NEW NOW Festival in Essen, inside the Mixing Plant of the Zollverein Coking Plant – UNESCO World Heritage and an icon of industrial culture, Germany August 2021
4fakultät Concert Series for Cross Genre Improvisation at Kunsthaus Hamburg, Germany July 2021
CANAL CONNECT 2021 at Teatros del Canal in Madrid, Spain March 2021
NEXT 2019: 20th Advanced Music Festival Bratislava November 2019
SONICA for Cryptic Glasgow at Tramway United Kingdom, November 2019
INDEX festival of art and technology at Teatro Circo in Braga, Portugal October 2019
MAINTENANT Festival at Théâtre du Vieux St-Etienne in Rennes France October 2019
MUSIKPROTOKOLL in the Dom im Berg, Graz, Austria October 2019
OSLO NIGHT at HEK - Haus der Elektronischen kunsten, Basel Switzerland, September 2019
GAMMA Festival in Saint Petersburg, Russia, July 2019
ISEA2019 & ACT Festival Gwangju South Korea, June 2019
Opening Ceremony of the European Inventors Award in Vienna, Austria June 2019
Balance/Club/Culture Festival in Leipzig, Germany June 2019
BIENNALE CHRONIQUES, Marseille 2018
@ECHOS NUMERIQUES at Le Chabada, Angers France 2018
MUTEKJP Tokyo, Japan 2018
MUTEKAE Dubai, Arab Emirates 2018
TODAYSART Festival Den Haag, NL 2018
MAPPING Festival 2018, Switzerland
MUTEKSF San Francisco 2018
L.E.V festival 2018, Gijón
ELECTRONS LIBERES at Stereolux Maxi Salle 2018, Nantes, France
Spektrum Athens A/V Act 01 2018, Athens, Greece
Mois Multi 2018, Quebec
The Lowry Theatre 2018, Manchester
Sparkling Sound Festival, Copenhagen, 2017
BAM Festival, Liège, Belgium, 2017
Keroxen17, Santa Cruz De Tenerife, 2017
Bozar Electronic Arts Festival Edition 7, Brussels, 2017
Mutek Buenos Aires, Edition 1, 2017
Mutek Montreal, Edition 18, 2017
ARTBITES 2017, at <§> Drugstore Belgrade
Mutek.es Barcelona 2017
Mutek.mx Mexico 2016
Tower of Federico II, 2016, Enna, Italy
OSA Open Source Art festival 2015, Gdansk, Poland
Sparkling Sound festival 2015, Denmark
ADAF Athens Digital Art festival, 2015
FASMA Festival 2015 Athens
Lexus Hybrid Art 2014 Moscow
TEDx Athens (TEDxAUEB) 2014
Arteorema CineStudio Live 2013, Heraklion
Schmiede- Playground of Idea, Hallein, Austria 2012/2013/2014
Heraklion Museum of Visual Art 2013
CineStudio Live concert H3 2012/2013, Heraklion, Crete
Max Planck institute for Astrophysics, 2013, Munich
TEDx Heraklion 2013
Museum Quartier Q21 Vienna Austria 2012
Castle of Zynkovy Arts Festival 2012, Czech Republic
SciCafe 2012 at the Natural History Museum of Crete
ScienceOpera, Theatre of the University of Crete 2012
Municipal Gallery of Heraklion, Crete 2012
Prototyping and presentation at the Foundation for Research and Technology F.O.R.T.H HELLAS in Heraklion, Crete GR 2011

Below a photo selection of the Performance at Stereolux 30 March 2018, Nantes, France.

Photos by Margaux Martin's