Song of the Phenomena

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BACKGROUND The concept of "phenomena", developed by pioneering physicist Niels Bohr, explains the relationship between subatomic particles and the apparatuses used to produce and detect them. For Bohr, interaction between apparatus and object 'forms an inseparable part of the phenomenon'. This relationship has been designed into physics experiments since the early 20th Century; and although artworks have explored these relationships since Duchamp's '3 Standard Stoppages', they have not included high-energy physics apparatuses. CONTRIBUTION Song of the Phenomena uses particle emissions from organic matter attached to a decommissioned linear particle accelerator (LINAC). Originally designed for radiological biological experiments, the LINAC is activated by natural radiation from the atomic decay of potassium in the organic material. The accelerator electromagnetically resonates in response to the subatomic emissions, via amplified signals from particle detectors, which is expressed as sound and light. Through amplification, resonance and decay, the installation expressively and experimentally probes relationships between living and non-living matter, technology and biology, the subatomic and macroscopic. It provides an energetic analogue of the phenomena originally produced in the apparatus, but also inverts its purpose, giving the device a new kind of life, by enframing the organic matter with the technology that feeds upon it. This plays upon philosopher Martin Heidegger's concept of "Gestell", the scaffolding that technology provides society, but which inexorably turns the world, from atoms to us, into mere energy reserves for its own sustenance. SIGNIFICANCE This is the first LINAC set up in a gallery, and working in such a state which creatively and critically expresses its nature. The work has been critically reviewed with positive results, with articles and interviews in local and international media e.g. thearticle.com.au, CNN, Symmetry physics magazine.