Jean Michel Crettaz and Mark-David Hosale
with Duly Lee, Michaela Neus, F. Myles Sciotto, and Marco Verde

Sponsered by the City of Toronto for Nuitblanche 2012, End of the World exhibition, Zone Monumental, Nathan Phillips Square

Quasar 2.0: Star Incubator (Q2:SI) is a large-scale, architectonic work that connects viewers with systems of the universe unfolding beyond their senses through immersive and interactive patterns of light and sound. Q2:SI is made of a visually striking array of crystalline elements, and fibre optic membranes supported by an intricate metallic mesh. 90 micro-controllers and 256 LED’s light-up the fibre optic strands. Coupled with an array of 7 loud speakers positioned throughout the exhibition, Q2:SI communicates layers information to viewers, collapsing both time and scale into the immediacies of the experience of ever new beginnings. The installation’s life-form is computed in real-time comprising of simultaneously converging data streams drawn from locally embedded sensors (infra-red and electromagnetic field), as well as remote atmospheric (Automatic Weather Stations, Antarctica) and stellar (IceCube Neutrino Observatory, Antarctica) data sources.