Laboratory Research One
Handbell Ringing Experiment
A key turning point came during a Sonic Intangibles meeting when Chris Harrison introduced the paper Quantitative Comparison Between Neuronal Networks and the Cosmic Web. Although I had no formal background in mathematics or network science, the comparison of structures across vastly different scales immediately resonated with my own artistic enquiry.
Rather than attempting to understand the mathematical formulae, I concentrated on the ideas behind the research. I read the papers several times and used AI tools to generate summaries and explanations from the perspective of an artist, asking how the research might be understood without specialist mathematical knowledge and whether it could inform an investigation across scales. These interpretations enabled me to recognise the significance of the work while remaining grounded in the published research.
A second paper, What the Quantitative Comparison Misses, introduced me to persistent homology. Although only a brief paper, it proved pivotal. It shifted my attention away from numerical measurement towards relationships, connectivity, loops and voids—characteristics that can persist across very different systems. I realised that what interested me was not whether neurons and the cosmic web were the same, but that similar organisational behaviours could emerge in entirely different contexts.
Around the same time, hearing church bells ringing in my local environment triggered an unexpected connection. I could not immediately explain why, only that the structured repetition and ordered patterns seemed to echo the ideas I had been exploring. As I discovered the mathematical foundations of campanology and handbell change ringing, the resonance became clearer. Bell ringing, with its permutations, sequences and collective participation, offered a tangible way of exploring ordered relationships through sound.
