31 soleils (Dawn Chorus) is a video of a solar transit filmed through an H-Alpha solar telescope accompanied by a composition created from recordings of 31 different frequencies culled from the extremely low end of the radio spectrum. The piece refers to a specific phenomenon where at dawn one can pick up – if using the proper equipment – an array of radio signals that are not usually within geographic range.

Aubé has developed a system of tracking and compiling frequencies allowing him to indirectly monitor displacements and variations of the sun’s radio waves and its effect on the range and power of a variety of broadcast systems on earth. This data is then used as a score to create the composition from the same material, i.e., evangelical preachers, cuban propaganda, Taiwanese commercial radio.

The image of the sun was filmed through an H-Alpha telescope (which filters out all of the light spectrum save red, but not any red: a red that corresponds to the wavelength of Hydrogen). The video shows the state of the sun, visually echoing its affect on the propagation of waves.

The exhibition also features a second piece that employs a similar process: V.L.F. Finland – 21.12.2002 captures the sound of Northern Lights and signals from Russian submarines.

31 soleils (Dawn Chorus) marks the fourth of a series of exhibitions and projects curated and produced by Mark Lanctôt and Jonathan Middleton under the title The Troubled Pastoral. The series takes on a broad set of themes including pessimism, psychedelia, altered states and drug use, black comedy, science-fiction dystopia, class struggle (within the context of an increasingly marginal or absent middle class), the industrialization of food production, the ragged edge of suburbia, and various forms of visual, aural, or perceptual interference, including smoke, static and electro-magnetic radiation.