Scientific Institution Experience
HPC Data Symphonies
Making the invisible labor of supercomputing visible, spatial, and human-scale.
Context
HPC Data Symphonies was developed during a S+T+ARTS EC(H)O residency at HLRS Stuttgart. The work looks at the activity of a supercomputer used by researchers for climate models, protein simulation, fluid dynamics, astrophysics, turbulence, and other scientific computation.
The work asks how this infrastructure can be experienced by public audiences without turning it into a dashboard.
System
The artwork translates supercomputer activity into a living visual landscape. Forms grow, pulse, and shift with the rhythms of the machine. The installation can run as an interactive screen, an ambient visual system, and an LED installation driven by data rhythms.
A connected bike links physical effort to computational scale. As visitors pedal, the interface compares human effort with the supercomputer's daily output, making energy and scale physically legible.
Technical Notes
The system uses a Python data pipeline running on HLRS infrastructure to process millions of log entries into daily snapshots. The visual layer is a real-time WebGL environment built with cables.gl, using custom GLSL shaders for procedural organic forms.
The installation supports adaptive rendering across exhibition displays and laptops, Art-Net lighting output, and Bluetooth integration for the connected bike.