2024 Astro Log IO

Astro Log Io was born in 2020

Early in 2020 in an informal meeting between astrologer Alejandra Eusebi Polich with artist Martin Bonadeo they talked about Kepler's music of the spheres and all the musical and rhythm metaphors used by Astrology. Both wanted to generate a physical three dimensional and multi-sensorial experience expanding the classical flat natal chart. Patricio Gonzalez vivo is an artist, but he is also trained as a psychologist and a computer programmer. He was working in sky representations and also was relating his work with natal charts. Oliverio Duhalde is a musician, composer and orchestra director obsessed with Kepler's music of the spheres and was the fourth base of the team. Cristhian Castro Arenas and Andreina Graterol, Architects and designers are working with Buckmister Fuller's tensegrity ideas and are also part of the original team.

First prototypes

The project's sound software architecture was mounted on an ambisonics interface to obtain spatialized sound and for each celestial body to sound from a specific position in space. Although this visual interfase is not a sphere, we could easily use this setup for our first quadraphonic prototype shown first in Arpril in London and then in June in Barcelona with some variations.

A Radar screen was our first visual interfase

When looking for a metaphor in a flat screen to represent the planets in the sky, we saw a solid image on the classic radar screen that we all share in our collective unconscious. A circle is the cursor that indicates to each participant which part of their sky they are listening to.

Representing a sphere in two flat circles

The projection of the natal chart in a flat screen was not enough to represent the natal sound sphere. With the reflection of the circle in the floor or a circular carpet we can create a better idea of a personal astral sphere that surround each participant. The center of the circle, which represents the self in an astrological chart, is the place where the people who experience the piece are located and listen to the spatialized stars around them.

The first prototypes are focused in de immersive spatialized sound experience

As a personalized version of the music of the spheres is less explored than the visual aspects of the sky, we prioritize in our first prototypes the sound aspects of the piece. Our participants are experiencing today a fine ambisonics version of the piece that works great in a multiple speakers setup but also with headphones.

The idea is to build personalized full sphere planetariums

We are collecting funds for our next step: To build full sphere personalized planetariums. In a near future, each participant will have the possibility to experience with eyes, ears and the complete body inside a personalized planetarium made out of old screens or projectors. Although we have an advanced version of the project in virtual reality, we are more encouraged by the idea of ​​proposing immersion in a real sphere. We have also a team of designers and architects experts in tensegrity testing some haptic and tactile ways to feel the tensions of the planets in people's natal skies.

A flexible physical setup

Depending on the space and budget possibilities Astro Log IO could take different shapes and scales to display the audio visual image of the participant's birthday sky or other skies layout. The only limit is the future. Our software has a specific line of code that makes it impossible to ask about future sky configurations. Our idea is to connect people with sounds to help people to their unique sky where things happened in the past.

Cross between video games and art Clarín Buenos Aires (In Spanish)

The first newspaper to write about our project was Clarín, in Ñ, its cultural magazine. A one page story on the Now Play This Festival 2024 in London written by Diego Maté dedicates a full Paragraph to Astro Log IO. Maté catalogues the piece as "Suprising and intriguing" and finishes his comment saying that ¨This music of the spheres speaks to the spectator about itself, but it does so in a sublime and indecipherable language¨

Press over podcast

When we heard that the "Press over" Podcast was going to cover the Now Play This London 2024 festival, we asked the three hosts for their dates and times of birth so we could make a version of their sound astrological charts. In the podcast, they shared their feelings after listening to them. (in Spanish).

The Guardian London

The Guardian also dedicated space to Now Play This Festival 2024 at Somerset House London. In the article written by Simon Parking on the Observer section, it refers to Astro Log Io as an eerie return to the celestial content of your own star point.

ASTRO LOG IO NEW WEB SITE

The collective project Astro Log IO , which plays personalized versions of the music of the spheres, has a new website. Led by Martin Bonadeo, a group of psychologists, astrologers, musicians, programmers, designers and architects are developing this idea. It is a work in progress that is growing. In 2024 it had two presentations at the Now Play Festival in London and as a parallel event to the Iberian Astrology Congress in Barcelona. The website explores the documentation of these two exhibitions and unfolds the roots and development of this collective piece.