Paper & Sound

A solo voice lists in alphabetical order twenty-eight obsolete star constellations that were named after animals. Named between the 16th and 19th centuries, some were officially recognised for decades, others for centuries. In 1922, the International Astronomical Union held a general assembly in Rome where they decided on the 88 modern constellations to be adopted by the global astronomy community. All others were removed. The speakers are arranged in a circle facing inwards. Each channel begins at a different time from the speaker to its left, allowing the names of the constellations to merge, shift and grow together, creating both a cacophony of loss and the birth of a new unrecognisable lexicon. Voice: Cillian Murphy / Sound engineering: Brian Crosby