Dopplereffekt, Antivj, scientists and artist-coders tell the story of the universe and the stars based on the latest knowledge in cosmology and stellar astrophysics in an immersive audiovisual performance.

Credit: NASA — Edited by: Simon Geilfuss

Last week the world premiere of Entropy at TodaysArt was announced, a project in which I have been involved as a co-producer since more than two years alongside some very bright minds.

Entropy is a novel collaboration between artists and scientists aimed to produce an immersive audiovisual performance. Entropy tells the epic story of the universe and the stars based on the latest knowledge in cosmology and stellar astrophysics.

The project features original music composed and performed live by sonic pioneers Dopplereffekt, lectures by the scientists of the respective fields Dr. Dida Markovic and Dr. Zaz Magic, and visualizations and computer-generated graphics of real astronomical simulations and data related to the talks created by Antivj (Yannick Jacquet as artist/scenographer, and Nicolas Boritch as co-lead and producer) together with a community of renowned artist-coders led by Elie Zananiri. Other contributors will be announced soon, but I can promise you now it are very renowned people which we are honored to be working with.

The project provides a holistic overview of the current scientific understanding about the history of our universe in the form of a gripping narrative. Entropy aims to be truly interdisciplinary, bordering on transdisciplinary. Part sonic exploration and part visual odyssey, Entropy takes you on a cosmic journey through space and time.

Development: call to use, modify and contribute to the code Entropy seeks to reinvent scientific storytelling on the one hand, and develop new tools to imagine, display and stage scientific data and narratives on the other. The tools developed aim to take live electronic music performances, live and generative visuals and data visualizations beyond the currently existing formats. The team is releasing their software and applications as open-source, encouraging art and science communities to use, modify and contribute to the Entropy project. Join at github.com/entropy.

Early prototype developed by Elie Zananiri

Early prototype developed by Elie Zananiri

Background
Initially piloted at the Abandon Normal Devices festival in 2011, the project originally started in 2011 by the core team of Gerald Donald, founding member of Dopplereffekt and Drexciya and originator of the idea, and two astronomers: Dr. Zaz Magic, now at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, and Dr. Dida Markovic at the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation (ICG) at the University of Portsmouth, who is the project co-lead. In 2013, the team was joined by the Antivj digital arts label to integrate into the performance a unique set of scientific visualisations of real data and to create a unique staging for the performances. TodaysArt has been involved as a co-producer of the Entropy project since June 2014.The project is currently supported by the STFC (Science and Technology Facilities Council) Public Engagement Large Award, We are Europe (a project supported by Creative Europe) and Arcadi Île-de-France.

Dopplereffekt performing at Resonate festival in Belgrade, April 16, 2016

Entropy presentation at Resonate by Elie Zananiri — Spherical 360° image

Announcement of Entropy at Resonate 2016
Following the successful application for an STFC Public Engagement Large Award in 2015, the visuals have started taking shape, leading up to the first-ever public announcement of the project at the Resonate festival in Belgrade last April. The astronomers, together with Nicolas Boritch of Antivj and Elie Zananiri presented a work-in-progress, introducing the international team, the scenography, content, and demonstrate a selection of visualisation prototypes. The presentation also revealed the planned release of some of the project’s tools as open source for the scientific and artistic communities to use and further develop. So far the Entropy project has received positive feedback and endorsements from the international community. The presentation was presented in collaboration with TodaysArt and Bright Collisions as part of the We are Europe program co-funded by Creative Europe.

Early prototype developed by Elie Zananiri

World premiere at TodaysArt Festival 2016
Entropy is set to premier in the Netherlands this autumn at the TodaysArt Festival in The Hague on September 23rd and 24th. TodaysArt is an annual festival dedicated to today’s transdisciplinary creativity and digital culture. The presentation will be presented by TodaysArt in collaboration with Sónar and Insomnia as part of the We are Europe program co-funded by Creative Europe. In addition the project will be presented and discussed at the Bright Collisions symposium program which takes place in the framework of TodaysArt.

After the premiere, the project will keep on being further developed, finetuning the performance, adapting it to different settings and localities, as well as making plans do develop different applications, formats, installations and educational programs related to the Entropy project. After the premiere at TodaysArt, Entropy will continue to be presented as a highlight at renowned arts and science events around the world.

European dimension of the project
As mentioned before the premiere of Entropy will be presented in the framework of the We are Europe project. Aside from We are Europe, the involvement of Antivj in the project’s presentation at TodaysArt is supported by another Creative Europe-funded project, SHAPE. Both of these platforms aided in not only the presentation of the project, but also in the development of the project.

We are Europe is the newly-created association of eight major European events (c/o pop, Elevate, Insomnia, Nuits sonores, Resonate, Reworks, Sónar and TodaysArt) joining forces in order to promote, create and produce innovative cultural practices, defined by creative diversity and exchanges.

SHAPE is a platform for innovative music and audiovisual art from Europe. It consists of 16 festivals and art centres and aims to support, promote and exchange innovative and aspiring musicians and interdisciplinary artists with an interest in sound.

In a European context, I think Entropy is a prime example of a pan-European collaboration project, which brings together people from many different European and international nationalities. Many of them living and working abroad, their way of working is borderless by nature. These aspects strengthen the project and expected outcomes in many different ways. In addition, the project gained essential support from two European collaboration projects as well as organisations from many different countries.

At this moment in time, showcasing the strength of pan-European projects such as Entropy seem to be of even greater importance. Especially when taking into account recent troubling news such as UK scientists being dropped from EU projects because of post-Brexit funding fears, along with statements which claim that art and science should stay well away from each other. As Tom Higham stated recently in this article, “Innovation is not about technology, it’s about collaboration, new approaches, and figuring out the really important questions, as much as finding answers to old problems.”

Dr Dida Markovic, right, and Dr Zaz Magic of the Entropy project. Credit: Frank Bauer

Early prototype developed by Elie Zananiri

Follow the project
To follow the developments, sign up for the Entropy mailing list at entropyspace.net (the website will go live early August) and follow Entropy on Twitter and Facebook.