COINCIDENCE!

COINCIDENCE! is an artwork that surrenders authorship to the Cosmos itself. The work detects muons: sub-atomic particles created when cosmic rays collide with atoms in Earth’s upper atmosphere. These particles pass through buildings, bodies, and machines continuously, unnoticed. Each time a muon passes through the detector, the work responds with light, sound, and a randomly selected ‘muonic message’.

Every activation is a coincidence event. It is  a moment shaped entirely by chance. Neither myself nor the viewer can predict when it will occur, what message will be triggered, or how frequently the work will respond. The system is carefully designed, yet its outputs are uncontrollable, allowing randomness to become the primary author.

COINCIDENCE! explores unpredictability at multiple scales: from micro-physical events originating in deep space, to human attention and patience in the gallery. Viewers are faced with a choice — to wait, to listen, to trust that something might happen, or to move on when nothing does. Meaning emerges not only from the cosmic encounter itself, but from how long we are willing to remain open to it.

The work asks what happens when control is relinquished and whether uncertainty can reconnect us to forces far larger than ourselves, yet passing quietly through us all the time.

COINCIDENCE! is currently showing at the Cosmos Exhibition at Royal West of England Academy in Bristol from January to March 2026.