WORK: "Coccyx Crystallization" (2008)
ARTISTS: collaborative work with Evelina Domnitch + Dmitry Gelfand
MEDIUM: stereo digital sound + phosphoric solution, crystal, dark space
DURATION: 32:00 / variable

EXHIBIT: LUMASOPHIA
LOCATION: Media Lab Enschede [ Enschede, Netherlands ]
DATES: April 24-28, 2008

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INFO:
Labyrinthine chemiluminescent cascades illuminate a crystal structure, floating in the darkness. Activated by vaporous luminol discharges that settle on the crystal's surface, glowing sapphire veins appear and vanish at widely varying velocities, evoking a multifariously breathing light. The biomorphic qualities of these self-lit crystalline surfaces hint to a pivotal phase in chemical or prebiotic evolution: the emergence of optically sensitive molecules. Of so much concern since the dawn of philosophy, the dissimilarity between organic and inorganic processes arises at this slippery juncture. There are still no principles that can aptly describe the transition from inorganic crystallization to the self-replicating and mutating formation of genetic crystals, the foundation of living matter.

Perhaps, only by means of morphological intuition can one navigate across the geochemical spinal cord, leading from the coccygeal leftovers of one's tail to the light-harvesting software of the liquid-suspended brain. With a relatively fixed inventory of vibrating ingredients, the only latitude for biocosmic fruition lies in the constant redistribution of mass/charge. In the same manner that cephalization (the ever increasing redistribution of mass towards the growth of the brain) has been a central scenario in the development of the biosphere -- on a larger spatio-temperal scale, verticalization has also been the optimum tendency, from the development of the Earth's atmosphere to remote atmosphere-infused neurocybernetic colonies.

The photonically tunable capacities of crystals enabled their eventual growth-pattern selectivity. Though most crystals may grow in any given direction, often, specific directions are inherently preferred. For organic crystals, directional selectivity is a means of protection against physical disturbance, and evasion of the mutational force represented by life-threatening sideways growth ("vertical = life, horizontal = death"-Buckminster Fuller). This strategy is propelled by the arrangement of charged and neutral areas on the crystal's periphery. However, in response to photonic emissions, the crystal's electromagnetic circuitry can be considerably modulated – a process known as optical activation, intrinsic to all light-breathing matter.

A sonic dimension interpenetrates the environment of Coccyx Crystallization. Hyper-minimalist 'microsound' artist, Richard Chartier (3particles.com, www.12k.com/line), has been invited to create a score that emulates the multiphase temporality of the crystalline chemiluminescent reactions. Renown for working on the very fringes of audibility, Chartier's compositions vastly expand the perceptual envelope, often disarming the listener's ability to distinguish between real and imagined sounds.