I was artist in residence at the MMGerdau Museum of Minerals and Metals in Belo Horizonte. Together with other artist, the Jardim Mineral Program wants to let artists work with the minerals collection from the museum through various art forms, and both in a physical and online form. Given my background in sonification, I created 10 sonifications of minerals I like in the collection. I tied this in with the resident alien mascotte Tetê, who told the museum staff that minerals can sing. Other inspiration comes from J.G Ballard’s Vermilion Sands, where he describes singing plot sculptures and the Soviet film The Mystery of the Third planet, where cosmonauts go on an interstellar voyage to bring animals to the zoo of Moscow.
In the museum, people scan a QR code that takes them to a dedicated website, and can start listening to one of the minerals. When people bring their phones together, they can create their own mineral choir. The website is aimed at a Brazilian public and thus only in Portuguese.
You can access the work via the dedicated site: http://ocorodosminerais.com
You can also find the works by the other artist on the main website: https://2021.programacomciencia.org.br/exposicao-jardimmineral/
You can read a more technical description on my sonificationart blog.