Quantum Sound at Weird Music Night

Quantum Sound, the first-ever music created and performed directly from measurements of superconducting qubits, created by YQI AiR Spencer Topel in 2019, was featured at Weird Music Night with a brand new light show and weird performance by YQI AiR curator Florian Carle. Weird Music Night is curated by John O'Donnell and features avant-garde noise acts, multimedia creators, and live sound experiments.

For this edition of Quantum Sound, Florian presented a new mix of the track with an audio-reactive light show incorporating real quantum data, laboratory photos, Scanning Electron Microscopy images, and plenty of pretty lights.

During the performance, the audience was invited to isolate themselves from their surroundings with mylar blankets, just as superconducting qubits must be isolated from their environment. As the gallery space grew darker, colder, and more reflective, the performance moved from harsh noise and data visualizations to a more tonal musical experience with dreamlike visuals.