Work

Camera Lucida

Evelina Domnitch and Dimitry Gelfand, exhibited as part of Silicon Dreams

Date:
2005

Since Robert Hooke’s experiments with bowed glass plates covered in flour (l7th century), much ground has been covered in the field of sonic observation. However, there have been very few attempts at creating a three- dimensional, non-virtual visualisation of the movement of sound events through space. The Camera Lucida (chamber of light or lucidity) directly transforms sound waves into light emissions by employing a phenomenon known as sonoluminescence. After adjusting to the absolute darkness surrounding the installation, one gradually perceives the fleeting configurations of glowing sound fields.

Though it has been established that the source of light originates inside imploding gas bubbles, the sequence of events, starting with the collapse and leading to photonic emissions, shock waves and jet formations, remains predominantly unknown. Following the extensive research done since the 1980s, numerous theories have been proposed, ranging from collision-induced radiation and quantum tunnelling to plasma core ionisation and even bubble fusion. No research, however, has been conducted on the implications of sonoluminescence as a perceptual tool. It is our intention to uncover this delicate bio- chemical-physical interface where the visible is the condition of the invisible (of the audible) and “where the inverse is also true, where invisibility [the disappearance of the observer in total darkness] is the condition of a new kind of visibility” (Thomas/Caillois/Minkowski).