Bluesh//ft

Blueshift is the deep universe, sonified.

In this audio-visual experience, we translate data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) open source data archive. Drawing from the ASPECS 3D survey, measurements of redshift, star formation rate, and luminosity are turned into sounds that transport the listener through space and time.

As you listen to the experimental composition, you hear evidence of space dust, gases and star formation in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Due to the highly sensitive ALMA telescopes, the“ ASPECS data unveil reservoirs of molecular gas and dust in galaxies up to redshifts z~4, when the Universe was only 1/8th of today's age.”

By peering through dust to detect molecular gases, we can piece together the composition of galaxies in deep space. The audio-reactive visuals portray these galaxies hidden by space dust and illustrate this process by which ALMA observes distant matter.

ALMA’s telescopes intercept radio waves that have passed through millennia. What can we learn about the evolution of astronomical bodies and ourselves by looking back in time? Can we get closer to our origins?

Statement by Blueshift

Isabel Beavers

Isabel Beavers is a transdisciplinary artist and creative producer based in Los Angeles. She works at the nexus of environment, climate, and astrobiology. Beavers generates video works, 3D animation, sculptures and immersive spaces that center embodied knowledge and ask viewers to rely on sense-making as a primary mode for constructing reality and building more equitable climate futures.

Beavers’ work has been presented, exhibited, and screened at San Luis Obispo Museum of Art (2021), Ars Electronica UCLA Botanical Garden + .ART Digital Platform (2020), New York Hall of Science (2020), CultureHub LA (2020), SUPERCOLLIDER (2020), MIT Museum (2019), Humbolt-Universität zu Berlin Thaer-Institut (2018), Mountain Time Arts (2017) among others. She has held workshops at the Hammer Museum (2020) and the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (2019). She holds an MFA from the SMFA at Tufts University and a BS from the University of Vermont. She was recently a 2019-20 Resident Artist with CultureHub LA. She has designed and taught original art-science curriculum for Tufts University Experimental College and SMFA. Currently, she is Manager of Artistic Research with SUPERCOLLIDER and Youth Development Specialist with artworxLA.
In 2020, Beavers co-founded Great Pause Project, an open-source archive documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic experience.

Haiden McGill

Haiden McGill is a creative technologist and audio engineer exploring techno-progressivism through the intersection of data-driven installations, physical interaction design, and psychoacoustics.

In 2017, They co-founded Noctvrnal, an interdisciplinary XR studio that has collaborated and exhibited with CultureHub LA (2020), ARS Electronica Sound Campus (2020), MIT Media Lab (2019), LA Philharmonic (2019), AT&T Innovation Lab (2019), AFI Conservatory (2019), Oculus Connect (2019), Games for Change (2019), Wing Luke Museum (2018), Wallace Annenberg Center for Performing Arts (2018), USC Jaunt Lab (2018), and others. Recent awards include an arts residency with On Air Fest (2020).

McGill has designed and taught university courses in immersive technology and spatial audio for Chapman University and Orange Coast College. Additionally, they have lectured at CalArts, USC, and CSULA.