Semiconductor's HALO to make UK debut at Brighton Festival 2020

An immersive artwork that reworks raw data from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN into light and sound.

Brighton-based artist duo Semiconductor, aka Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt, will present their immersive artwork HALO for the first time in the UK at Brighton Festival 2020.

HALO was developed during a three month arts residency at CERN in Switzerland in 2015 and functions as an “experiential reworking” of the raw data from the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider.

Taking the form of large cylinder featuring 384 vertical wires and a 360-degree display, HALO uses data from proton collisions to present audible and visible representations of a usually unperceivable process.

Standing in the centre of the structure, the viewer is able to perceive the ATLAS data, which is then turned into MIDI information that triggers the structure’s wires to resonate. Semiconductor term the experience the “technological sublime”. You can watch a short documentary about the making of the artwork here.

The UK premiere of HALO will take place from May 2 – 6 at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts as part of Brighton festival 2020. For more information, head over to the festival website.

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