Music of the Spheres

Music for the Spheres: A Hydrodynamic Sculpture for John Soane

In collaboration with Mimi Norrgren and Jeff Smith

This cast glass cone with its spherical internal chambers references classical architecture and proportion and in particular the enlightenment architect John Soane. We used a system of spheres that increases in size according to the Fibonnacci sequence and is shrouded by a cone formed from an isosceles triangle of golden proportions. The addition of moving water to this spatial game adds a time element that echoes the ebb and flow of natural processes (natural geometry being the source of the golden ratio).To the ancient Greeks and Vitruvius, proportion and rhythm were one, and the idea of symmetry was to bring together a harmonious correlation (or commodulation) between the whole and its parts. As a traveler, collector and pioneer in classical studies, John Soane would have followed this concept and considered architecture to be Frozen Music. We seek with this glass sculpture to honour the classical principle of Eurythmy in Space.