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Slide Music: Cosmos of Machines
Elisa Balmaceda
Composition for 8 slide projectors and tempered colour films, based on John Cage’s “Atlas Eclipticalis”

Like John Cage’s piece “Atlas Eclipticalis”, “Slide Music” is based on a Antonín Becv̌ ár star chart. Cage lay a score on top of the chart and drew in dots where the stars were. As such the dots became notes, whose values were defined according to the intensity of the starlight. Using the same procedure, “Slide Music” translates a star chart from Becv̌ ár’̌ s Atlas into a light composition for slide projectors, where the size and brightness of the stars is interpreted by seven projectors. An extract of table XVII from “Atlas Eclipticalis” with the constellation Cetus (whale) will be played.