Premiere: Loadbang + Mitchell Carlstrom & Stephen de Filippo
Emily J. Chin (collaborative scientist)

13’00"

The score for Reading Mantle Petrology is based on photomicrographic images of mantle stones captured by Emily J. Chin, Associate Professor in Geosciences at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. These microscopic photographs reveal the intricate details and textures of thin rock sections from the Earth's mantle. Presented as a scrolling score, traditional musical notation is overlaid on Chin's images, creating a continuously moving visual landscape across the screen.

Loadbang performs these images, interpreting the petrology and transforming it into sound. Then, the ensemble is accompanied by two percussionists, Mitchell Carlstrom and Stephen de Filippo, who use piezo contact microphones (which convert vibrations into electrical signals) to amplify the grinding and scraping sounds of stones. In this way, both the visual and physical properties of rock are sonically reimagined, blurring the lines between the microscopic and the musical.

Program

Performances:

• 24/05/2024: Loadbang + Mitchell Carlstrom & Stephen de Filippo, IDEAS: Initiative for Digital Exploration of Arts & Sciences, Atkinson Hall, Qualcomm Institute, University of California, San Diego, CA