Seeking escape from the sensory overload of Sonar By Day, I made my way up to CosmoCaixa, high up in the hills overlooking Barcelona. A science and natural history museum rolled into one, CosmoCaixa has Barcelona's only planetarium, which has been taken over by Sonar for a series of audiovisual installations.
Today's installation, "Birds-Ear View" by the Japanese artist Sawako, used field recordings and ambient music to imagine how birds might hear their own birdsong, while slowly morphing monochromatic visuals floated across the domed ceiling. I can only imagine what Messiaen – so much of whose music is based on birdsong – would have thought of it.
Speaking of Messiaen, he'll be factoring into a later part of this trip. More to come on that.