With media attention on solar flares and their effects on positive events (the northern lights) or predicted negative events (technological disruption), Helen White joined the Pervasive Media Studio in January 2013 to embark on a graduate and new talent residency, supported by IOP Publishing, to develop a ‘solar-wind chime’. Over a 3 month period Helen developed an installation that is powered by real-time data  triggering an audible and visual representation of the movement of charged particles released from the sun. 

Solar-wind chime uses magnetically generated resonance to sound lengths of aluminium tube in response to solar wind data collected from a satellite an hour away from earth, producing a slowly-evolving audible and visual manifestation of the constant fluctuation of energy being released by the sun.

During her residency, Helen explored the upsurge in the availability of information on a global scale, the challenge of giving form to an aesthetically bereft mass of data, and explored new approaches to science communication using creative technologies.

A recording of her showcase event and panel discussion is available: http://www.watershed.co.uk/dshed/listen-sun-panel-discussion

Helen in the news:

Artist shows she's got solar flare | The Post | 19.04.13

Listen: New Sounds from Space | The Weather Channel | 09.05.13

Sounding out the Sun | Physics World | 14.05.13