Past, Current, and Future Projects
Notation: A = Amara F = Fiorella [ ] = extra comments by Amara
A: Tell me about your current projects.
F: The current project [available now] is Invisible Universe CD-ROM for the Mac and PC.
[I found a copy in January 1996 at a bookstore in the San Francisco Bay area. See my thoughts about it in the Sidebar: The Invisible Universe CD-ROM]
A lecture tour is planned, which starts in March 1996. Also, this year I'm writing a book called: The Sensual Universe.
A: And your future projects?
F: As soon as I go back to New York, I will be in the studio with my producer and other musicians to complete my "mainstream" pop album, for which we already have a couple of songs. One of the songs is "Supernovae Amore," which is also going to be a chapter in the book. These musical pieces are a type of pop, mainstream combination of Enigma-Pink Floyd-Funk-Madonna-like music. Then this winter, a concert tour will start to promote the music. That music and the tour will be my main focus for the end of 1996 and into 1997. I am also having some discussions about a TV entertainment-scientific-musical show. Something fun and up-tempo.
A: How would you like to see science promoted, say, in a popular way?
F: I haven't seen anything yet that appeals to me. For that reason, I wanted to invent something completely new. I wanted to be the first recording artist that is an astrophysicist. My personal dream is to be the first astrophysicist to receive a Grammy Award, maybe while I'm above as a mission specialist in the Space Shuttle! I wish I could say 'yes,' I like how that science promotion is done, but I really haven't seen it done in a way that I like.
I think I was lucky in that I was at the right time when I was doing my research in acoustic astronomy. [I was lucky] because I was one of the first people to use computer music and relate it to astronomy. In the past, there could have been the right ideas and people, but they didn't have the tools that I have today. Five years ago, I couldn't have even imagined putting all of this information: the images, the video, the music, on a CD. So I was able to fuse the latest technology with the latest software. Now I'm doing that with music, animation, video, poetry on a medium that is a CD-ROM. That's pretty new.
A: What was the title of your thesis?
F: My goodness, it's so long and in Italian! Let's see: "Disengno e realizzazione di un sistema integrato MAP/CMUSIC per la composizione di partiture musicale e la sintesi numerica dei suoni."
[Roughly translated: "Design and realization of an integrated MAP/CMUSIC system for the composition of musical scores and the numerical synthesis of sound."]
A: What galaxy did you use for your thesis?
F: UGC 6697 in Coma Berenices, between Virgo and Leo, 180 million light years away. It's a very powerful and luminous radio galaxy. That was my first jam- musical-partner, my co-performer!
[UGC 6697 is a pretty interesting astronomical object. I did a little background reading on it, see the Sidebar: Radio Galaxies and UGC 6697]
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