Art and Astrophysics in Conversation with KM3NeT Deep in the Mediterranean Sea

• Published in: Proceedings of XVIII International Conference on Topics in Astroparticle and Underground Physics — PoS(TAUP2023)
• Main Authors: Fortescue, Donald, de Wasseige, Gwenhaël, Mauro, Jonathan, Coyle, Paschal, Ilioni, Alin
• Other Authors: Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille (CPPM), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité), KM3NeT
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2023
• Subjects: [PHYS]Physics [physics]; [PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]; [PHYS.HEXP]Physics [physics]/High Energy Physics - Experiment [hep-ex]; Orca
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04536603; https://doi.org/10.22323/1.441.0332

International audience We present the result of a cross-disciplinary collaboration between the California College of theArts, San Francisco and the KM3NeT Collaboration.The project involved creating an analog sound producing instrument which was installed within astandard KM3NeT pressure resistant glass sphere housing along with sound and video recordingequipment. The instrument, titled “Bathysphere”, was deployed in the sea for the first time adjacentto the ORCA array of KM3NeT off the coast of Toulon, France on September 23, 2021.One outcome of this project is the video work “Below the Surface”. It incorporates sound andvideo recorded from within the “Bathysphere” as it floated on the surface of the Mediterraneanand then as it dived down to 300 m depth. As the “Bathysphere” dived, the analog instrument itcontained quietened. The sound in the dive portion of the video is created from the sonificationof data from the KM3NeT array that was recorded during the deployment of the “Bathysphere”.“Below the Surface” highlights the extraordinary environment in which the KM3NeT array isbeing created and operates. The data sonification illustrates the potential of this method of datarepresentation to connect with viewers in a deeply physical way and offers new perspectives onthe data collected by KM3NeT.