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.


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

The Butterfly Effect - Audio

(1) CERES

process and performance

audio

graphic score​​​​​​​

(2) PALLAS

process and performance

audio

graphic score

(3) JUNO

process and performance

audio

graphic score

(4) VESTA

process and performance

audio

graphic score

(5) ASTRAEA

process and performance

audio

graphic score

(6) HEBE

process and performance

audio

graphic score

(7) IRIS

process and performance

audio

graphic score

(8) FLORA

process and performance

audio

graphic score

(9) METIS

process and performance

audio

graphic score

(10) HYGIEA

process and performance

audio

graphic score

(11) PARTHENOPE

process and performance

audio

graphic score

(12) VICTORIA

process and performance

audio

graphic score

(13) EGERIA

process and performance

audio

graphic score

(14) IRENE

process and performance

audio

graphic score

(15) EUNOMIA

process and performance

audio

graphic score

(16) PSYCHE

process and performance

audio

graphic score

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