Witness 3 by Michael Begg & Clodagh Simonds

"And you are watching, are one of the watchmen, you find the next one by brandishing a burning stick from the brushwood pile beside you.

"Why are you watching?

"Someone must watch, it is said. Someone must be there."

Franz Kafka, At Night


Live positional data from the International Space Station, and the earth monitoring family of satellites from the European Space Agency, including Sentinel 1, 2, 3, 5, Cryosat and Terra is streamed live in real time, processed and realised as music by Michael Begg's Witness Engine - a series of software programmes that transform environmental and climate data into musically meaningful realtime compositions.

For Witness 3, the turning of the satellites, their orbital patterns and relationships to each other trigger choral clusters composed and arranged by Clodagh Simonds.

Observation was captured on March 31st 2020. The satellites were called at intervals of 25000 milliseconds.
Statement was captured on May 25th 2020. The satellites were called at intervals of 8000 milliseconds
– was captured on June 3rd 2020. The satellites were called at intervals of 35000 milliseconds. Where an answer was expected, and none arose, there comes the sound of longing.

Scottish independent label serving Michael Begg, Human Greed, Fragile Pitches since 2001.

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Mask design & image: © Thanos Vovolis

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