Free Radicals: Richard Chartier - Recording the Grand Tonometer

In 2010, sound artist Richard Chartier was awarded a Smithsonian Institution Artist Research Fellowship to explore the National Museum of American History’s collection of 19th Century acoustic apparatus for scientific demonstration, with a focus on German physicist Rudolf Koenig’s unique Grand Tonometer (c. 1870-1875), a collection of 670 tuning forks. Some of these recordings were showcased as Transparency, a performance at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. A short live sound performance will be presented. A×S Symposia were launched in 2017 in partnership with the Williamson Gallery at ArtCenter College of Design. The inaugural event, Free Radicals: Evolving Perspectives on the Convergence of Art & Science, was a robust, two-day program of artist talks, performances, and presentations. Rather than focus on one specific thematic, the symposium presented an array of diverse viewpoints and approaches to the intersection of art and science. Cybernetics, space research, Earth sciences, me