Performance Eratosthenes: the Music of the Cosmos

On July 16, 17, and 21, from 9:00 PM to midnight, the video projection "Eratostene: The Music of the Cosmos" will be shown in Piazza Scaravilli, directly beneath the Torre della Specola.

The combination of images and music that will animate the walls of the square intends to express the search for the hidden order in infinity, whether it be celestial spaces or numerical sequences. The work is an ideal bridge between the rigidity of mathematics, the fluidity of visual art, and the pages of the history of science written in Bologna, as evidenced by the collections of the University Museums.

The deepest connection between the visual component and musical composition lies in the concept of "structure emerging from the void." In the musical plot, the presence of prime numbers and their geometric interweavings is revealed through silence: it is the interruption of sound that gives form to the composition. This principle is perfectly reflected in the nature of the deep cosmos, where it is precisely the void that allows matter to aggregate and become visible.

With a transition reminiscent of the tessellated structure of Horn's mirrors, the panoramic view from the terrace of the Specola bursts into the projection. If music and the sky represent abstract infinity, the view from above of Bologna and Horn's mirrors represent our Earth, history, and the human instrument capable of deciphering that infinity. A reversal of perspective is thus achieved: the astronomical instrument, accustomed to looking upward to calculate the geometric laws of the planets, casts its gaze back upon us and our responsibilities.

The project thus concludes in a circle: the Specola becomes the point where the Universe and the city are mirrored in each other. The projection and the music converge in the same geometric rules that govern space and the evolution of nebulae, thus representing the desire for knowledge that has always characterized human nature.

The video projection is free.