Journey to the Center of the Earth

Not since Michael Knight slid behind the wheel of KITT has the human-machine interface been so compelling. On view now, Turing Tables, an installation by German artist Franz John, makes a remix of the Earth’s beneath-the-surface rumblings. Inspired by (and named for) the theories of mathematician Alan Turing, the piece, in John’s words, riffs on the fact that “machines and their sensors are part of an extended evolutionary perception—quite human and subject to faults and errors.” Turing Tables feeds the data from a multitude of small earthquake sensors (called “fingers”) stationed around the globe into a real-time, online installation before converting the data into image and sound. Green-and-black moving wallpaper—composed of numeric data and the locations and times at which the readings are taken—fills the room, along with a grating yet melodic soundtrack courtesy of Oakland-based sound artist Ed Osborn. (Think Tron meets Brian Eno’s Music for Airports.) “It’s difficult for people to understand meta-ideas such as earthquakes,” says Exploratorium curator Pamela Winfrey. “This piece makes earthquakes easier to fathom while reminding us how alive the Earth is.”