Cluster Lunch: Sound & Music
Have you ever wondered if the universe is creating music?
For this specially extended Sound and Music Cluster Lunch, we hear from a new project that reveals hidden musical patterns embedded in large data sets collected by NASA and the European Space Agency.
We are pleased to welcome David and Annette Sloly, a husband and wife collaboration working as Lux Nova. They will talk about their latest project, share how latent musical material within data is uncovered and shaped into musical composition, and play an extract from the forthcoming soundscape, Notes from Your Universe.
The work draws on data from major astronomical events and missions, including giant solar storms, the Voyager 1 mission, and spikes in high energy electrons and protons. Lux Nova translates hidden patterns within data from natural and engineered sources into sound, allowing unseen dynamics to be heard, felt and encountered. The work creates spaces of connection between listeners and the often invisible workings of the worlds around them.
This will be an extended Cluster Lunch. The full 40-minute work will be played at the end of the talk and is included within the overall event time.
David Sloly is a creative technologist whose practice spans sound, storytelling and intelligent technology. His background includes producer and creative roles in UK broadcast radio and television at major national networks, as well as across music and sound practice. As producer of Steve Jackson’s Morning Glory, his team earned a Sony Gold Award and a MOBO. The programme was named by the Guardian as one of the most influential radio shows in the UK. Alongside broadcast work, he has an ongoing practice in electronic music and sound, including study at STEIM in Amsterdam and international DJ performances in club spaces and on geopolitical stages. In recent years, his work has explored the creative and cultural implications of artificial intelligence. This includes Made in AI, a sitcom created using AI at every stage, now being developed as an animated series. He has also contributed to cultural and policy discussions on AI, including collaboration with King’s College London on creativity, labour and copyright. Within Lux Nova, David leads on transforming data into sound in collaboration with Annette Sloly.
Annette Sloly has a background in the arts, music, performance psychology and creative practice. Within Lux Nova, she acts as a critical musical and perceptual collaborator, shaping how the work is heard and experienced and ensuring the compositions remain musically coherent and emotionally intelligible for listeners. Her contribution focuses on how complex systems are translated into felt, embodied listening experiences.
Held on the fourth Tuesday of every month, this is an informal opportunity to meet other residents and hear from local speakers working in your area. Join us to share ideas and chat about upcoming projects over your packed lunch.
For more information, please email Rachel Pownall ahead of the event – r.pownall@bathspa.ac.uk