Sébastien Robert

The Lights Which Can Heard - The last sound of dawn

Since 2021, Sébastien Robert has been conducting artistic research into the sounds of the aurora borealis. Aboriginal communities in the Arctic have witnessed them, but the scientific community has denied their existence until hypotheses debated since the 1950s: that certain elements - minerals, crystals - act as receivers, transforming the radio waves emitted by the aurora borealis into the audible spectrum. Following successful recordings, Sébastien Robert realized that these very low-frequency natural electromagnetic waves, drowned out by artificial signals, were doomed to disappear from our perception. Four interconnected works were born of his questioning.

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Electronic Evocations Of Sound's Reality

video, 15"05

The work takes as its starting point 147 accounts from surveys carried out in Canada, Norway and Russia since 1771. Various indigenous Arctic communities describe the sound of the aurora borealis. Their words stand out for their diversity, their onomatopoeic nature, and their convergence to describe a phenomenon observed in different places and at different times. By juxtaposing these accounts with his recordings made in October 2021 in Andøya, Norway, Sébastien Robert gives a voice to these communities that Western science has sidelined, offering an immersion in a unique sonic and poetic universe.

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That Dance Between The Poles Of Sound

video, 15"05

This video, based on the same recordings as Electronic Evocations Of Sound's Reality, is more scientific. It examines sonograms, visual representations of sound evolving over time. The continuous straight lines on the left show the hum of our electrical network, those on the right military telecommunications, very present in the Arctic due to the geopolitical context. In between, disparate, random shapes: natural, very low-frequency radio waves produced by lightning, solar winds and, here, especially the aurora borealis, which electromagnetic pollution is making increasingly difficult to perceive. 

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The Sun, My Father

Installation

Various indigenous cosmologies from around the world consider quartz crystals to be composed of solidified light and sound waves. These crystals become electrically polarized when subjected to mechanical stress. At the center of the installation, a quartz crystal receives a beam of light carrying the very low-frequency natural radio waves produced by the aurora borealis. The light passes through the crystal to a photosensor, which demodulates it into a sound, broadcast by loudspeakers placed throughout the exhibition space. Transcended by light and sound waves, the crystal vibrates and sparkles, forever preserving a phenomenon that will soon disappear from our perception.

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Magnetic Fluctuations

A modular sound system receives real-time magnetometer and antenna data from the Polar Light Center, a station that monitors auroral activity in Norway's Lofoten region. The data collected directly influences various sound parameters (speed, pitch, timing, etc.) and creates a continuous soundscape. In other words, the musical score is composed and played by the aurora borealis. Under conditions of low electromagnetic activity, the sound is rather stable, whereas it becomes more active in the presence of the aurora borealis.

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Sébastien Robert

Born in 1993
Based in The Hague

Sébastien Robert works at the intersection of visual and sound arts, technology, science, and ethnography. Since 2020, he has been developing the research cycle You're no Bird of Paradise , exploring endangered Indigenous sound rituals and cosmologies. Rather than simply documenting these practices, he translates them into lasting artworks, using materials that resonate with the traditions of the communities he encounters and reflect the geographical contexts he explores. This dialogue between non-Western perspectives and contemporary technology challenges our perceptions and highlights the diversity of worldviews.