"I hear often of what is written in the stars, but I am thrilled by brown dwarfs making music in the dark. There they are: alive and singing in the rhythms of wild wonder." 

Brown dwarfs are a class of in-between celestial bodies (neither planets nor stars) that emit most of their light just outside the wavelengths of human sight; to observe them, we, humanity, had to make the creative leap that darkness was worth looking at. This lecture traces Janani Balasubramanian’s development of Rogue Objects, a new operatic experience for planetaria that brings the science of brown dwarfs into an accessible avant-garde artwork. We'll examine original compositional strategies – inspired by the likes of John Cage, Sergei Prokofiev, and Julius Eastman and developed with composer Sultana Isham – that turn astrophysical data into musical stories. Through sound, the audience is engaged in the delight of astronomical observing and the embodied sense that these objects are pervasive and plentiful, though they largely elude the narrow band of the optical spectrum. We'll also examine how playful negotiation between the familiar and unfamiliar across visual, musical, and narrative forms can unlock audience capacity for wonder and complexity. Finally, we will explore how the productive tension between art and science in our relationship to the cosmos can incite beautiful questions with regards to human experience and cultural memory. I look forward to welcoming you to the life of these celestial objects that abound and sing in the dark.

Janani Balasubramanian is a conceptually driven, multidisciplinary artist and director and a leading voice in art-science and immersive design. His work has been presented at leading cultural and scientific institutions worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, London School of Economics, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York High Line, Lincoln Center, The Public Theater, San Francisco Exploratorium, Andy Warhol Museum, Red Bull Arts, Ace Hotel, Yale Schwarzman Center, and most recently at The Music Center in Los Angeles in partnership with the Getty Foundation and LeVar Burton Entertainment. He is the co-author of Art-Science Undisciplined: A Playbook for Transformative Collaboration, published by UC Press.

This lecture is part of Galileo Week, a weeklong seminar entitled "Conservation and the Brain: A collaboration on remembering through things", featuring two public events, a lecture by Daphna Shohamy on April 14 and a concert by Bang on a Can performing "Lost Objects", music by Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe on April 16 at Parco della Musica.