AURORA
audiovisual sculpture
alabaster, glass and electronics, 2025
The audiovisual sculpture AURORA translates cosmic processes into sensually perceptible art. Inspired by the natural phenomenon of the aurora borealis – the visible expression of invisible solar storms – the work makes the fragile connection between the Sun, Earth, and humankind tangible.
Solar storms, also known as solar eruptions, send high-energy, electrically charged particles toward Earth. When these encounter the planet’s magnetic field, the field lines guide them toward the poles, where they collide with particles in the atmosphere – producing the spectacular light displays of the aurora borealis and australis.
What appears as a natural wonder is also a manifestation of a potentially destructive force. In 2022, a solar storm demonstrated this danger when 40 satellites of the Starlink network were destroyed by a coronal mass ejection. Powerful solar storms can cause global blackouts and GPS disruptions.
AURORA reflects this dual nature of the solar wind – its beauty and its threat. The sculpture is connected in real time to space weather data through a digital interface. Information about current solar wind intensity is continuously translated into sound and image: changes in solar activity directly influence the acoustic and visual expressions of the work.
Formally, AURORA draws on the idea of the historical Viking sunstone (sólsteinn) – a transparent calcite crystal used for navigation that refracts sunlight into two rays.
Here, too, transparency serves as a metaphor for orientation: the sculpture opens a window to the Sun and invites reflection on our planetary interconnectedness.
Through reflection, luminescence, and the combination of materials such as alabaster, glass, and a digital screen, AURORA creates an interplay of natural and technological elements that oscillates between sensory perception and digital abstraction.
AURORA is both a poetic and critical work about cosmic influences on life on Earth. It serves as a reminder of the visible and invisible connections that link our technological world with the forces of the universe – and of their fragility.
