Harmonic Portal, Lumiere Festival, Durham, Uk

22 November 2017

Harmonic Portal is a new work commissioned for Lumiere Festival Durham, 2017 http://www.lumiere-festival.com/durham-2017/

There are 5 pieces arranged around the walls of St Godrics Church, Castle Chare, Durham, each is a portal into the surface of the wall, the light amplifies surface details due to the angle of incidence and feels like a magnifying glass (or even an electron microscope at times.).

It is partially contemplating how our brains create continuous colour from just 3 frequencies of light, and also how limited a bandwidth that actually is. The fundamental notes are a flattened Ab, A and B, and are derived by dropping the frequencies of light by 43 octaves, such a narrow band of frequencies out of the huge range of the electromagnetic spectrum, and yet we perceive ourselves as seeing 'reality'. The end result is that you can listen to the colours, as they come in waves of intensity, varying with the intensity of the light, creating harmonies, sympathies and dissonances.

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