Light Years, Week Days

Light Years, Week Days is a site-specific installation that explores the movement of the repeated, and, at first glance, unsystematic tinkling of chimes. The chimes reference Roman philosopher Pliny’s hypothesis that the constant rotation and movement of the air, the earth and the planets in different directions emits a “sweet harmonious music”. The timing of chimes tinkling can be indirectly controlled by choosing the length of the chimes’ pendulum and the distance between the chimes. This way original music pieces can be designed, but then played by the random wind blasts in the tunnel.

 

The Inspiration

Light Years, Week Days is the second iteration of an installation work, ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS STAY, which was featured in the WonderChaos exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (2021). The original installation had 20 chimes and 300 bells hung on a very large tree, which forms the foundation of the sound and movement piece –  an exploration of order and chaos through music.

 

The Process

The art installation serves as the springboard for the module MUA 3275 Sonic Circuit, created by Composer Chow Jun Yan at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. The module presents an interdisciplinary learning opportunity where art, music, science and engineering intersect, allowing students to intervene with the artwork through creative music innovation. The end goal of the module’s onsite intervention is to provide interdisciplinary participation, generating new perspectives, curiosity and learning for students and the NUS Community.

The Collaborators

Light Years, Week Days is created by visual artist Kate Daudy and Nobel prize-winning physicist Prof Kostya Novoselov, Director of the Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials and is curated by Karen Lim, Curator, NUS Museum and Secretariat for NUS’ Public Art Committee. Art Interventions are made by students from Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music modules – Sonic Circuit and Live Interactivity, led by Dr Chow Jun Yan and supported by the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum.

Student Contributors

Engineering Solutions:

Kravtsov Mikhail
Grebenchuk Sergey

Music Solutions:

Chew Joshua Gabriel Hok On
Chow Hong Yao
David Micheal Woodside
Ganesh Abhinav Srivatsa
Hu Kevin S
Ng Xin Ci
Pak Alexis Jin Sun
Regalado Ortiz Daniel
Tan Guang Xin
Wang Leo
Wong Tina

Prof Kostya Novoselov

Physicist Professor

Prof Sir Konstantin “Kostya” Novoselov FRS (1974) was educated as a physicist first in Russia and then in the Netherlands (PhD in 2004), before settling in the United Kingdom. He also received a formal education in Chinese art, working in the studio of Zheng Shenglong (Xiamen University, China).

 

His background in Physics links nicely with his interest in traditional Chinese art, both following a reductionist approach. He has collaborated with several artists, including Cornelia Parker and Mary Griffiths. In his artwork, Kostya uses novel approaches and materials. He worked on an expanded range of topics far beyond the traditional Chinese ones, producing a novel, refreshing view on many subjects. Notably, he introduced the use of graphene ink (for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010, jointly with Prof. Sir Andre Geim FRS), which has expanded the expressiveness and functionality of his artwork. Following Hofstadter’s ideas, Kostya is fascinated with the concept of strange loops, which can be traced throughout many of his works.

 

Kostya Novoselov was made a Knight Bachelor in Britain’s 2012 New Year Honours, for services to science.

Kate Daudy

Visual Artist

Kate Daudy’s work celebrates the joy of human connection and unwavering faith in its potential. Based in London, Daudy works through a variety of media to manifest complex ideas and theories about the universe. She believes in the power of art to translate emotions and ideas into recognisable, yet unrealised visual forms in everyday life.

 

Daudy began to explore these questions using a practice inspired by ancient Chinese literary tradition. Her bas relief works represented the chronic impermanence of humanity and fleeting emotions. Installations included city-wide projects in Manchester, New York, and Jordan. The interaction between text and place was also explored by Daudy through a commissioned map of London she produced for Selfridges in 2017.

 

Described as possessing “an intellectual curiosity which is infectious” by art historian Dr Rebecca Daniels, Daudy’s practice is based on research and collaboration. During her artist residency at the Saatchi Gallery in London, she collaborated with Egyptologists at the University of Oxford to respond to the blockbuster exhibition, Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh. Her accompanying exhibition, It Wasn’t That At All (2019-2020), attracted critical acclaim.

Dr Chow Jun Yan

Adjunct Faculty

Chow Jun Yan (Malaysia, b. 1984) started his composition studies with Mr. Yii Kah Hoe. He graduated with First Class Honours in the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (YSTCM), Singapore, studying under Professor Ho Chee Kong, Head of Composition Faculty and Computer Music under Professor Steven Miller. Jun Yan won the 2nd Prize for the Malaysia Modern Poem Composition Competition 2015, Winner of Society of Malaysia Contemporary Composer’s “Call for Score – Organ solo” 2013, and the 3rd Prize for the category B in the Singapore International Competition for Chinese Music Composition 2012.

 

For the past few years, he extended his art exploration into interdisciplinary art where he composed Strolling for flute, percussion and Chinese calligraphy in 2013, followed by organizing Hearing Visual Looking Sound, a sound-visual improvisation performance in December 2015 in Malaysia, and June 2016 in Thailand. He participated in SETTS #3 performance in Singapore on May 2016, inviting musicians and visual artists to collaborate in a live performance.

 

Jun Yan completed his PhD studies in 2018 in National University of Singapore under Professor Lonce Wyse, with the title of Communication Between Sound and Visual Artists in Improvisatory Performance. He is presently under the personal tutelage of renowned Erhu musician Mr. Zhang Yu Ming and has participated as an erhu improviser in various concerts, including Hearing Visual Looking Sound (Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok), UITM Spectra 2016 (Kuala Lumpur), The 3rd RSU Electronic Music Concert: Melt (Rangsit University, Bangkok) and RAW Art Space (Kuala Lumpur).

 

He is currently an academic faculty (adjunct) at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore.