emilio chapela programs robot to paint white noise -- 1% of the big bang

you can watch about 1% of the big bang on TV. it has to be one of those old ones with the antennas and it has to be set to a staticy in-between-channel, but, yes: it’s a common fact in the science community that a small, yet measurable amount of that fuzzy stuff is as old as the universe itself. artist emilio chapela, fascinated by this, often explores white noise in his work and in his latest, he’s hacked a robot to paint the frequencies of old television sets and radios and other outdated telecommunicators.

all images courtesy of henrique faria

all of the ‘white noise paintings’ were created exclusively for ZONAMACO, on the context of ‘the logic of materials.’ in emilio’s exploration, he has managed to translate the frequency of the most common, most obsolete household appliance, into an experimental painting with an interesting subject: the cosmic microwave backdrop (CMB). according to NASA, the CMB is a blanket of ancient waves left over from the big bang. it covers the entire universe in radiation. our eyes can’t see these waves on our own, but here, in each of these paintings, 1% have been painted by an artist’s robot.