WorldWide Drilling Resource

Soviet Borehole Inspires Sound Art Adapted from Information by ::vtol:: Inside the Arctic Circle, the Soviet Union drilled the Kola Superdeep Borehole to a depth of over 40,200 feet. The oper- ation and inner life of the borehole was shrouded in legend, mystery, and hoax. In the 1990s, an audio file appeared with horror-like sounds, which were allegedly recorded at the borehole. Acoustic research was conducted at the site, attracting researchers as much as the geology. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the borehole was the deepest in the world. The amount of data and samples obtained during experiments is so large, it will be studied for many more decades. After the operation ended, the site was abandoned and plundered, while its ruins became almost inaccessible. In 2016, Russia-based artist Dmitry Morozov, or ::vtol:: as he is known, visited the site of the borehole, and found a roll of punched tape in rusty water within the ruined laboratories. This tape, extracted from a computer at the scientific station, became the starting point for the creation of an artistic work. Morozov also spent several years collecting core samples from the scientific station. Taking inspiration from acoustic research conducted at the site, Morozov combined the punched tape and core samples to create the "12262" multimedia installation. The project is a sound installation which uses data decoded from the punched tape in real time. It is unknown what exactly is written on the tape. It could be a record of research data, a program for controlling equipment, or a report on the scientific work done; but today it is impossible to f ind a system support ing punched tapes adapted for modern computers. Computer punched tapes are similar to pianola punched tapes of the early 20th century or musical boxes, which served as an extra reason for converting the data into sound. For the project, Morozov designed a digital optical system, capable of reading coded information. The installation’s master controller gradually deciphers the tape and gives commands to five kinetic sound generators, which are miniature drilling mecha- nisms. After receiving the command, each sound generator drills small samples of stone cored from the borehole. The drilling sound from small fragments splitting away from the cores is amplified and processed, becoming the base for the infinite sound composition created by the machine. The whole installation is a kind of a drilling rig model, an artwork combining media archeology and geology, kinetic art and myths, sounds of mechanisms, and darkness of deep depths. In July 2018, Morozov visited the site of the Kola Superdeep Borehole to resume the drilling process after 28 years of downtime. 22 FEBRUARY 2019 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® ENV