Press -Appendix Nelly Ben Hayoun

Photo: Super-Kamiokande

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Hundreds splash through an artist’s neutrino tunnelFrench artist Nelly Ben Hayoun is no stranger to science. Her portfolio of work

includes explorations of brain plasticity in snails, a scheme for generating dark

matter in a kitchen sink and a recliner in which people can experience the first

10 minutes of a Russian Soyuz rocket’s liftoff sequence.

She may have outdone herself with her latest project, though. For Super K Sonic

Booooum (top photo), she constructed a flashy version of Japan’s Super-

Kamiokande neutrino observatory in London’s Shunt Lounge, a labyrinth of

abandoned railway tunnels beneath the London Bridge train station that’s been

turned into an underground performance space.

“I’m really obsessed with large-scale scientific experiments,” Hayoun says. “The

project was born from the idea of giving everyone access to the Super-K

detector.”

The installation consisted of a 49-foot-long channel filled with nearly 4000

gallons of water and lined with 600 balloons representing Super-K’s thousands

of photomultiplier tubes (left photo). Visitors rowed through two at a time in a

small dinghy, accompanied by physicists from Imperial College London and

Queen Mary, University of London. Every 10 minutes, loud booms and bright

flashes of blue light simulated interactions between incoming neutrinos and the

atoms of water—the events that the real Super-K is designed to detect.

There was no question about the installation’s popularity. According to physicist Francesca di Lodovico of Queen

Mary, one of the presenters at Super K Sonic Booooum, people lined up for more than an hour to go through the

faux observatory. Fifteen hundred attended during an 11-day run in November. “It was really amazing,” she says.

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25/01/2010 15:22Super K Sonic Booooum - we make money not art

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we make money not art ~ Bring me home, please

Super K Sonic BooooumBy Regineon January 25, 2010 10:08 AM

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Photo credit: Nick Ballon

Super-Kamiokande (Super K) is an underground neutrino observatory in Japan. 1000meters under the surface of the earth, a tank containing 50,000 tons of extremelypure water and surrounded by over eleven thousands golden photomultiplier tubeskeeps watch for supernovas in our galaxy. The photomultiplier tubes register theamount of light created when a neutrino meets an electron of ultra-pure water. Theencounter is marked by a real Sonic Boom, an explosion faster than the speed of thelight. On the computer screens of scientists who study the phenomenon, a sonicboom looks like a ring of blue light that travel to the surface.

Scientists postulate that neutrino, one of the most abundant building blocks ofnature, can give us insights into the basic nature of matter, the universe, and thelaws of physics. Yet, scientists know almost nothing about neutrino. As David Wark,a physics professor at Imperial College London, explained: "Just because a physicallaw takes place, it doesn't mean that it is obvious on a scale that we are built tocomprehend. A human might have the same chance to understand the ultimatetheory that my cat has to do calculus, but I hope not."

Andreas Gursky, Kamiokande, 2007 © Adagp, Paris, 2008 : Andreas Gursky /Courtesy: Monika Sprüth / Philomene Magers (bigger version of the image)

Last November, Nelly Ben Hayoun (designer of The Soyuz Chair) invited the public tojoin scientists from Imperial College London and Queen Mary University of Londonfor a voyage aboard a dinghy through the seas of particle physics. Not in the realSuper-K but in the SHUNT lounge, a night-club buried 10 m under the London Bridgearea.

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25/01/2010 15:22Super K Sonic Booooum - we make money not art

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Photo credit: Nick Ballon

Called Super K Sonic Booooum, Nelly Ben Hayoun's installation/performanceattempted to demonstrate the visual equivalent of one of those massive sonic boomsthat take place inside Super K each time a neutrino meets an electron of extremelypure water. As ultra-pure water doesn't exactly abound in London clubs, the designerused the water from the nearest fire hydrant and turned the place into a 15 by 5mlong swimming pool. Before stepping inside the rubber dinghy, participants wererequested to don a pair of white boots, a white coat, a helmet and listen to thesecurity measures: do not touch the machinery, keep your hat on at all time, declareany rocks in the mine.... Five Imperial College London physics researchers, andseven PhD students are currently working on the T2K neutrino oscillation experiment,which uses Super K. Three of them, Professor Dave Wark , Dr Yoshi Uchida and DrMatthew Malek, jumped on board to guide and inform visitors through the world ofparticle physics. And all around people, 600 balloons. Inflated one by one.

The balloons inflated at SHUNT represent the 'photomultiplier tubes' which cover thesurface of the Super K. Super K Sonic Booooum re-creates the rings of blue lightand a massive explosion (designed by sound artist Tim Holden) punctuates theexperience every 10 minutes.

Image credit: Hayeon Yoo

Super K Sonic Booooum aims to make arid, hard-core physics more accessible tothe general public, to help them understand the power of elementary particles thatare everywhere around us without us ever noticing them. Every night during theperformance, 170 people queued to get the neutrino experience.

If you happen to be in London on February 11, at 6pm, Nelly Ben Hayoun will be giving a talk aboutSuper K. To participate, please register at theAlterFutures group page.

Previously: The Soyuz Chair by Nelly Ben Hayoun and The Cloud Project by ZoePapadopoulou and Cat Kramer.

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Review: Super K Sonic Booooum @ Shunt

Ladies and Gentlemen, please keep your hands and feet inside the ride and remain seated until the lecture hascome to a complete standstill, for a little piece of Japan’s Super-Kamiokande has landed in the Shunt Vaults totantalise your senses in their final week. Designer Nelly Ben Hayoun and an incredibly patient “Doctor Ryan” areoffering a whistlestop boat tour of their Kubrick-esque installation which tells you Everything You Always Wanted toKnow About Particle Physics (But Were Afraid to Ask). You might think it’s the scandalously cheap wine, but thatreally is a visual version of a sonic boom rippling across a subterranean lake, as navigators from Queen MaryUniversity of London and Imperial College London try and unravel the secrets of the universe.

And don’t forget your passport for this subatomic adventure. No, seriously.

At Shunt Lounge, 4-7th and 11-14th November, SHUNT Lounge. £5 (Wed/Thurs) and £10 (Fri/Sat)

By RuthL in Arts & Events on November 7, 2009 11:00 AM 0 Comments 0 Likes

ART INSTALLATION JAPAN PARTICLE PHYSICS SCIENCE SHUNT

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12 Nov

Super K Sonic Booooum at the Shunt LoungePosted by Hannah in Arts, Attractions, Clubs, Pubs & Bars

Last night I dressed in a white boiler suit, hard hat and wellies. Accompanied by a scientist, I boarded a dinghy and floated through a dark tunnel lined with 600silver balloons.It was all part of Shunt Lounge’s current installation, Super K Sonic Booooum by Royal College of Art graduate Nelly Ben Hayoun.Sonic Booooum is a recreation of the Super K underground science centre in Japan, where scientists study tiny particles called neutrinos.During the boat trip, your on-board expert (a scientist from Imperial College or Queen Mary University) explains the concept of neutrinos, and why they’reimportant.And if you want more info, you can pop into one of the “drop in, drop out” lectures, where remarkably friendly scientists tell you more about neutrinos and answer allyour questions.Super K Sonic Booooum is at the Shunt Lounge until Saturday 14 Novmeber.If you’ve never been to this amazing dark and cavernous venue, make sure you check it out soon, as it’s due to close this weekend.Tags: art, lectures, london bridge, Nelly Ben Hayoun, shunt, shunt lounge

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The Super K Sonic Booooum: adesign performance by Nelly Ben

HayounPosted by Lisa Smith | 12 Nov 2009

Nelly Ben Hayoun, creator of the theatrical Soyuz Chair, brings us anotherhybrid between design, performance, science and amateurism, the SuperK Sonic Booooum. The show, taking place at Shunt in London, isdescribed as "a fantastic voyage on a dingy that floats on 50000 tons ofextremely pure water where neutrinos interact with electrons in a massiveSonic Boom." In other words, a simulated tour of the Super K NeutrinoObservatory in Japan.

Visitors, who will don wellies and white suits, will board a small dinghy withscientists from the real Super K, who will give a short lecture on particlephysics as the boat makes its way through the installation by means ofpullies. Throughout the tour, the space will periodically resonate with a"Sonic Boom," a powerful sound and light show by Hayoun and soundartist Tim Olden.

Sounds pretty spectacular, and if you're in London, you still have two moredays to catch it. More info here.

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