Tom Na H-iu

While increasing the caffeine level I was reading in a CERN newsletter lying on the table in the coffee room and found in there an interesting small article about the Singapore Biennale 2006, or, more specifically, an installation named 'Tom Na H-iu' by Mariko Mori (see pictures here, here and a video here). Its shape resembles the ancient Celtic megaliths, or standing stones, but is made of half transparent glass and illuminated from the inside by LEDs. Those are controlled by a <strangelovevoice> computer </strangelovevoice> hooked up to a detector at the Super-Kamiokande. Detected neutrinos – among them are some which belong to distant supernovae – are hence used to create, in a broader sense, new light. The name 'Tom Na H-iu' refers to the place where, according to Celtic lore, souls are waiting to pass into a new life. So, of course this is symbolic (death, rebirth, yaddayadda) but with the direct link to realtime data it actually becomes quite profound. Nice idea, indeed.

The thing is 3 metres tall, would actually fit in my room (height-wise), hmmm...