Ranger Liu - The Butterfly Effect

THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT

December 2021

NASA Psyche Inspired

32 x 32 x 4 in.

posterboard, wood dowels, acrylic paint, cardstock, string

Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Logic Pro

The Butterfly Effect is a collaborative, performative sculpture that functions as both a composition device and a musical instrument. It takes aesthetic inspiration from the first sixteen discovered asteroids and their astronomical symbols. I invited sixteen participants to build the sculpture up in layers, translated each layer into a graphic score, and played each layer's composition according to sound-generating interactions defined by the participants.

The sculpture’s multi-functionality is inspired by the overloaded meaning of the name “Psyche”, referring to the asteroid, the mission, the spacecraft, and the goddess simultaneously. Psyche is associated with butterflies in Greek myth, and this project demonstrates “the butterfly effect” with participants’ every decision contributing to the sculpture’s final musical and physical structure. The performative evolution of the project through three phases – composition, notation, and performance – also reflects the three major phases of the Psyche space mission: pre-launch preparation, spaceflight, and data analysis.

Psyche Inspired webpage: https://psyche.asu.edu/gallery/the-butterfly-effect-2/

Listen to the Butterfly Effect and its separate asteroid layers below.

The Butterfly Effect - Audio

(1) CERES

process and performance

audio