Arts and Culture

The existence of the GÉANT network and its counterparts in other world regions, is bringing researchers and academics of art, history, music, performing arts and other cultural disciplines together to explore the past and the present. Discoveries are being made all the time - new inspirations for the performing arts, resurrecting ancient sounds, and the capability of creating artistic events that can fuse experiences and cultures together. Two such projects are:

ASTRA - resurrecting ancient musical instruments
CityDance Ensemble - dancing to volcanoes

ASTRA – resurrecting ancient musical instruments through distributed computing power

ASTRA – Ancient instruments Sound/Timbre Reconstruction Application – is a project that uses computer-intensive modelling techniques to reconstruct the sound and timbre of ancient musical instruments. ASTRA relies on the GÉANT and EUMEDCONNECT networks to link high-capacity computers across Europe and the Mediterranean to harness the distributed computing power necessary for the modelling process. The model and the sounds created by ASTRA can be accessed by researchers around the world, delivering a powerful tool for archaeologists, musicians and historians.

“The combination of high-capacity research networks, such as GÉANT and EUMEDCONNECT, with grid computing provides the computing power we need to create a window into history.” – Professor De Mattia, Artistic Coordinator of the ASTRA project

Volcano Dance from CityDance Ensemble

CityDance Ensemble, a modern dance company based in Washington, USA, performed to music generated from seismic data, recorded from four volcanoes across three continents. The show, titled The Mountain, was based on the structure of melodies created out of seismic waves recorded from Mount Etna in Italy, Mount Tungurahua in Ecuador, and the Mountains Pinatubo and Mayon in the Philippines using the GÉANT, ALICE and TEIN networks. The performance was staged to increase awareness of climate change.

“As a scientist it was my priority to develop tools to help us predict eruptions and ultimately reduce the loss of lives. But as a musician and artist too, it was a natural step for me to apply these sounds to the arts.” Dr Domenico Vicinanza, developer of the data sonification process, DANTE