Barcelona festival Sónar will celebrate 25 years in 2018, and to mark the occasion, they’ll be presenting a series of transmissions directed at GJ 237b, a planet orbiting a star 12.4 light-years from Earth.
Sónar Calling GJ 237b is described by the festival as the first attempt at communication with a potentially habitable exoplanet. GJ 237b was chosen due to the possibility of receiving an answer back to Earth in 25 years. Two series of transmissions are taking place as part of the project, with the first having happened last month. The transmissions are sent from the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association (EISCAT) near Tromsø, Norway.
The next is due in April and will see 33 artists specially contribute pieces of music. Amongst those artists are Autechre, Nina Kraviz, Holly Herndon, Richie Hawtin, Carsten Nicolai, Kode9, Laurel Halo, Fatima Al Qadiri, Matmos and Laurent Garnier.
The festival is also calling upon members of the public to contribute with three user-submitted pieces set to be added to the April schedule also. You can find out more about the project here, and via the video above.
