Robert Takashi Crouch and Carl Michael von Hausswolff executes sound installation at the Mount Wilson Observatory

The theme for this year’s Fulcrum Festival is Deep Space, Deep Ocean. 

Executive and artistic director of Fulcrum Arts, Robert Takashi Crouch is looking forward to emphasize the intersection of Art and Science, the A in STEAM. He states, “That’s the focus of the annual Fulcrum Festival”. 

Crouch approached Carl Michael von Hausswolff for doing an installation at the Mount Wilson Observatory in Los Angeles. 

The exercise involved von Hausswolff tapping 12 artists to work on some specific sound frequencies. He then mixed these frequencies and piped it through speakers all around the historic Hooker telescope in the Mount Wilson Observatory. 

Hausswollff explained that the sound reverberates and kind of adds into itself and actually  creates lower frequencies. 

The resulting accumulated effect sounds like the ocean, full of distance echoes that resemble whale song. According to their research, maybe it actually is. 

Both the artists used actual field recordings of the Pacific Ocean. As a result of this, visitors to the observatory will now be able to experience an audio experience of being submerged in the sea deep below. 

According to von Hausswolff the ocean is populated. He is of the idea that instead of exploiting the ocean, we should collaborate with the ocean – a part of nature, we should collaborate with nature. 

On the other hand, Crouch is adamant of a direct connection between climate change and the current drive to look for new frontiers. 

The Fulcrum Festival 2022: Deep Ocean, Deep Space is scheduled for September 25.