Interview: Leon Trimble
How has the engagement with physicists changed your practice, inspired/stimulated new ideas and ways of working?
“In this collaboration we both started from scratch, as equal creators and learnt together. We had a shared passion and mutual understanding of what we were trying to do. The Michelson Interferometer is a historic device in Physics, which defied popular belief when it was invented in 1881. It totally fascinated me. I had knowledge of music and Aaron (Jones) and Hannah (Middleton) from the University of Birmingham Physics department had an Interferometer, which they helped me adapt to create sound and shape into a performance. They became artists in the process and I was an engineer, our roles became interchangeable.
The experience of working with physicists has inspired me to look more into the possibilities of using interferometry to transcribe sounds from other things such as ice sheets and trees etc. It’s put me on a whole new course of thinking and led me to meet other artists doing similar work. It also helped me reflect on my practice and appreciate the particular focus of my work. Once we started working with a live instrument I realized how I dislike the data set artist and that live performance is the essence of my work. Physicists think in an open, flexible way and play just like artists -albeit using more math - the approach is similar. It has been exciting to discover a whole new field in which to base my on going work.”
How has this impacted your audiences and those who you reach?
“Working with the Physics department at UoB has offered a whole new network and opportunities for my work both in the music/art world and academia. In turn I have also become a channel for sharing the work that the department are doing. I often find myself describing LIGO and Physics to people. The performances have been responded to very enthusiastically both internationally and locally here in Birmingham.
The Gravity Synth has performed at some very special locations including at Isaac Newton’s family home, Woolsthorpe Manor for Gravity Fields festival. In 2018, the Gravity Synth went to Music Tech Fest where the sound of the Synth was transmitted from a disused nuclear reactor at the KTH Royal Academy, and bounced off the moon in collaboration with Martine-Nicole Rojina and the Dwingeloo Radio Telescope. The Gravity Synth also bounced off the moon from inside Abbey Road Studio for their first music hackathon, repeating a gradually disintegrating phrase from ‘Here Comes the Sun’, from the Beatles album, Abbey Road! Having a researcher give an intro to LIGO preceding the musical performance enriches the event.”
How has working with a scientist changed your understanding of your career?
“Working within the University environment and spending time with academics inspired me to start an MA in experimental performance at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire this year. My understanding and confidence in the relevance and applications of my work has grown. The collaboration has broadened my horizons as to what I can do, where it goes and who is interested in it. I will continue to seek such collaborations with scientists.”
Do you feel that your processes and outcomes can inspire/further the field of physics?
“The TedX talk I gave with Aaron Jones at the UoB presented how my work with the interferometer has led scientists to new ideas and paths of research, thus furthering physics. During the TEDX performance we started to blur the boundaries between the pathways taken by art science, telling the story of artistic and scientific ideas with the Gravity Synth fading in to become a soundtrack to the talk, before taking over completely at the end. I am currently creating a graphic score for the performance that takes this idea further, and uses the waveform of a black hole collision ‘chirp’ as the overarching dynamic for the music & text, which also works as a metaphor for the timeline of discovery for LIGO.”