Penn State Studio Lab is pulling from the archives tonight.
Co-director Nilam Ram said that tonight’s performance will be a big “experiment” and that those involved are not even sure what to expect.
Studio Lab is “about bringing together art and science” Ram, associate professor of human development and family studies, said.
During the performance on Monday, Studio Lab will experiment with bringing statistical data into visual and sonic representations, he said.
“[The percussionists] will play musical pieces based off of [the] data,” he said. “The whole thing is a big experiment in both the scientific sense and the artistic sense.”
Tonight’s program was made possible with about 10 people, Ram said. Involved in the show are percussionists, professors from the College of Arts and Architecture, the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, the Department of Visual Arts, as well as a research associate and a data analyst, he said.
Ram said the idea for the experiment evolved over the years. He said that he and others involved with the program started to have conversations about one another’s work and found many similarities in data and musical or visual representations of them.
He said they wanted to “bring two sides together” and “see what the exchange was.”
Brian Orland, also co-director, said the show involves three-dimensional representations along with musical representations. The program uses many instruments including tuba, drum set, timpanis, bells, cymbals and tuba, he said.
Orland, Professor of Landscape Architecture , said it is neat to be a part of a project that brings together such different media. He said the performance brings up a lot of questions.
“How does data become sound [and] when does that sound become beautiful?” he asked. “Where [do science] and music come together? When does it get to the point [where] it can help the scientific community?”
Orland said this experiment could help answer these types of questions.
Joey Baron , one of the percussionists featured in the show, said the program is created by Ram to pull a lot of different ideas together.
The performance is neat because it presents statistical information in a new way “instead of the typical way data is used,” he said.
Baron said he has been drumming for 46 years and that this project has been a “totally new” experience for him.
He said people should come out and see the results of the “experiment.”
“[The program is] an opportunity to alter the way you view things,” Baron said.
Tonight’s performance will last about 90 minutes and there will be an exhibit prior to the show.
The show is open to the public. It starts at 7:30 p.m. tonight in Ruth Pike Auditorium at the BioBehavioral Health Building.
A reception follows the program.
