(un)certainty (installation)

Created by: composer Lawton Hall, percussionist Abby Fisher, and multimedia artist Mare Hirsch

(un)certainty is an autonomous installation that invites visitors into a space where data, sound, and light intersect. At its core is a circular array of mechanical woodblocks activated by custom software, generating an evolving rhythmic composition that surrounds the viewer. In the absence of live performance, the installation draws directly from the numerical data of the Muon g-2 experiment at Fermilab, transforming abstract subatomic measurements into tangible, spatial phenomena.

As the robotic instruments pulse in shifting patterns, they evoke the invisible, probabilistic behaviors of particles at the quantum scale. Lights embedded in the installation modulate in response, further immersing the audience in an environment that resonates with the tension between knowledge and mystery, repetition and irregularity.

Rooted in the language of physics and translated through the lens of art, (un)certainty questions what it means to know when facing the limits of measurement. This version of the piece runs continuously, offering a contemplative space for visitors to explore time, data, and perception on their own terms.