Without Composing_n°6

Without Composing_n°6 comprises eight installations shaped after the trajectories of cosmic rays—the paths of particles, here condensed into lines in space. At the end of each installation sit two Geiger–Müller tubes, sixteen in all, awaiting the arrival of cosmic rays and other radioactive particles; a custom Max/MSP system translates the sixteen streams of detection data into sixteen synthesizer timbres and rhythms.

This is an experiment in the spirit of John Cage's chance operations: the composer steps aside, and every sonic event is left to the particles the tubes happen to catch—each note born of an arrival no one can foresee.

One of the installations reveals the computation itself through real-time imagery: visitors witness how the data is gathered and converted, how sound takes shape and begins to move—rays that are neither visible nor audible become, here, both seen and heard.

Wearing wireless headphones, visitors are immersed in sixteen algorithmic sound streams, letting them strike the space, and the body, in every passing instant. As the series title has it: no one composes. The cosmos sounds itself.

With the support of the National Culture and Arts Foundation, Taiwan.

《Without Composing_n°6》由八件以宇宙射線路徑為造形的裝置構成——粒子穿行的軌跡，在此凝為空間中的線條。每件裝置末端置有兩支蓋格-穆勒計數管，全作共十六支，靜候宇宙射線等放射粒子的降臨；客製化的 Max/MSP 系統將十六組偵測數據轉譯為十六種合成器的音色與節奏。

這是一場呼應約翰・凱吉（John Cage）機遇音樂精神的實驗：作曲者退位，一切聲響的發生，皆交由計數管所捕捉的粒子決定——每一個音的誕生，都是一次不可預期的結果。

其中一件裝置以即時影像揭示數據的運算過程：觀者得以目睹數據如何被採集、轉換，聲音如何自其中成形、運動——原本不可見亦不可聞的射線，在此同時被看見與聽見。

戴上無線耳機，觀者沉浸於十六道演算聲響之中，任它們在每一個瞬間衝擊空間，也衝擊身體。一如系列之名：無人作曲，發聲的是宇宙自身。

本作品獲臺灣國家文化藝術基金會贊助。