Sensorial (In)verse

Sensorial (In)verse is a multi-sensory installation that transforms the data derived from European Space Agency’s Gaia Mission into an interactive and immersive experience. Gaia Mission is initiated by the ESA to produce a three-dimensional map of our Milky Way galaxy by charting the motions of a thousand million stars, their luminosity, composition and temperature. There are a plethora of theories and data that remain two-dimensional, all stacked on top of each other, unreachable to the broader audience. This astrometry representation stimulates the audience to explore the mapping of the life trajectories of the clusters and discover the earth’s positionality, as well as their own place within the galaxy.

 

The work is created by employing three elements: visualisation, sonification, and interactivity. Through motion detection and gestural control, you can interact with the astronomical data and explore the movement of stars in the Orion constellation over time. The sonification element invites the audience to explore space through sound. Creating an immersive astronomical soundscape, this medium further renders astrometry data more accessible and engaging for visually impaired individuals. The interactivity element is added by using Kinect, through which the user can interact with the installation and navigate through the trajectories of the stars over time. With Rick Heemskerk, Sensorial (In)verse was developed in collaboration with  ESA (ESTEC) scientist and science communicator Karen O’Flaherty in the context of Human-Computer-Interaction & Information Visualisation course by Prof. Dr. Fons J. Verbeek, with fruitful contributions from Jan Dudek, assistant in the course.