About the Project
The Big Solar Furnace (BSF) near Parkent, Uzbekistan, is a monumental facility for high-temperature solar thermal research. Commissioned in 1987 and situated high in the Tien Shan mountains, it employs a vast field of computer-controlled heliostats and a towering parabolic concentrator to focus the sun’s raw power, achieving temperatures in excess of 2,500°C for pioneering work in materials science and the simulation of extreme environments.
This interdisciplinary project explores the Big Solar Furnace through sound, combining artistic practice, scientific research, and experimental recording methods. The project involves both the investigation of the furnace and its material and technological processes, the development of artistic works based on these investigations, and the development of technological tools for presenting and exploring the resulting sonic material. Rather than treating the facility solely as a source of scientific information, we approach the furnace as a vast physical and sonic instrument. Structural vibrations, mechanical movements, visual information, material spectra, and operational data are investigated and translated into sound, creating new ways of experiencing and interpreting the site.
The project brings together two complementary approaches to the sonic exploration of the furnace. Heikki Vastiala’s work focuses on the physical and material properties of the site, using high-sensitivity sensors to record structural vibrations from the furnace and developing these recordings into site-specific sound art installations. Gleb Rogoziński’s work focuses on the sonification of scientific and operational data, developing computational methods that translate measurements, visual information, and material spectra into sound.
The project has developed into an interdisciplinary body of work spanning scientific research, artistic practice, and technological development. It has resulted in scientific and cultural presentations, publications, artistic works presented in Finland, Uzbekistan, India, and Japan, and an MA thesis.
The project operates at the intersection of sound art, sonification, materials science, and technological research. Rather than simply illustrating scientific information with sound, it explores what can become perceptible when a monumental scientific infrastructure is approached through listening.
Who are we
Gleb Rogoziński is a researcher, audio programmer and composer specializing in sonification, music cybernetics, and interactive soundscape design. With a doctoral thesis on Methods and Models of Cyber-Physical Systems Sonification and over a decade of academic practice, he bridges rigorous scientific methodology and creative application. An expert in the audio programming language Csound, Gleb has lectured on its creative and technical use at various institutions worldwide. He has led research projects in industrial sound design, AI-driven music systems, and acoustic ecology. His focus is on developing sonification as a tool for data interpretation, operational awareness, and aesthetic expression in complex technological environments.
Heikki Vastiala is a sound artist, electronic musician and educator. He holds a Master of Arts degree from Aalto University’s Sound in New Media programme. Vastiala's artistic practice centers on creating immersive, site-specific sound installations, translating physical environments and conceptual themes into experiential auditory works. His work explores how architectural and environmental phenomena can be made perceptible through sound, combining artistic and technical approaches to listening.
Together, we form an interdisciplinary collaboration that merges artistic depth with scientific precision, dedicated to giving meaningful auditory form to the hidden processes of our world.
Our Approach
The project approaches the Big Solar Furnace through several complementary methods of sonic exploration. These range from direct recordings of the physical structures and their vibrations to the computational sonification of visual, material, and operational data. Together, they allow us to investigate the furnace both as a physical environment and as a complex scientific system.
Architectural Resonance & Site Phonography. Using high-sensitivity sensors, we record structural vibrations from the main parabolic concentrator, the mechanical movements of heliostat drives, and the acoustic environment of the site. These recordings provide material for site-specific sound installations while offering a way of investigating the physical properties of the furnace through listening.
Visual-to-Audio Synthesis via Csound.Visual information from the furnace is translated into sound using custom synthesizers developed in the Csound audio programming language. Photographs of structural elements, including the grid of mirrors, framework geometry, and patterns of light and shadow, are analysed and mapped to sonic parameters such as luminance, edge density, and spatial frequency.
Spectral Mapping of Synthesized Materials. Emission spectra of substances synthesized under extreme solar flux are analysed and mapped into the audio domain. The resulting sounds are derived from spectral signatures associated with atomic transitions at temperatures exceeding 2,500°C, connecting the sonic material directly to the furnace’s thermal and chemical processes.
Process Sonification of High-Temperature Phenomena.Scientific and operational data, including temperature curves, heliostat alignment, and flux density, can be mapped to parameters of synthesis, spatialization, and sound processing. This creates an audible representation of processes that would otherwise remain perceptible primarily through scientific instruments and numerical data.
Audiograffiti, developed by Omni Audio Oy, is a pioneering platform for crafting interactive sound installations. This technique enables the design of dynamic, behavior-driven soundscapes that respond to the presence and movement of participants. Artists define active zones within a physical or virtual space—programmable geometric areas that trigger and modulate sound objects as recipients enter and move through them. These zones can spatialize audio in real time, apply parameter gradients, or layer sonic events, all controlled via a web-based player that interprets a participant’s position and motion. The result is a co-authored performance, where every step or pause directly shapes the auditory environment, transforming any space into a responsive, living instrument. Explore the creative possibilities with Audiograffiti.
Presentations
Big Solar Furnace site (Parkent, Uzbekistan, 26.03.2026). Vastiala and Rogozinski presented the project at the Institute of Materials Sciences in Uzbekistan on 26 March 2026. Vastiala presented parts of his thesis, including methods, results, and possible artistic and scientific applications of structure-borne sound recordings made at the facility during 2025–26. Rogozinski presented ways to sonify operational data from the facility and demonstrated custom-made visual-to-audio synthesis tools that interpret electron microscope images as music.
Rauma Art Museum (Rauma, Finland, 5.03.26). Heikki Vastiala presented an overview of the project and some of the first artistic results at Rauma Art Museum on 5 March 2026. The presentation was accompanied by two sound art installations created by Vastiala. In the installations, he translocated the structural resonances of the Big Solar Furnace to the museum staircase and the entrance glass booth, inducing them to resonate with the recorded material.
Publications
Gleb Rogozinski, Heikki Vastiala, Zhavohir Shermatov, Dmitry Muromtsev, Aleksandr Chudakov. Interdisciplinary Framework for Monitoring and Public Engagement at the Big Solar Furnace of Parkent. Proc. of DELCON2025, 31 Oct – 2 Nov, IEEE Delhi, 2025. DOI 10.1109/DELCON68055.2025.11400434
Gleb Rogozinski, Zhavohir Shermatov, and Heikki Vastiala. Sonifying the Big Solar Furnace: Bridging Science, Sustainability, and Art though Auditory Data Representation, in Proc. of Int’l Scientific Conference “New Materials and Solar Technologies”, Institute of Materials Science Uzbekistan Academy of Science, 28-30 April, Tashkent, Voris-nashriot Publishing House, 2025.
Gleb Rogozinski, Zhavohir Shermatov. Exploring Sonification for Enhanced Process Monitoring in High-Temperature Solar Furnaces, Inter’l Symposium on “Recent Trends in Emerging Technologies 4.0”, Dev Bhoomi Uttarakhand University, Dehradun, India, 22 November 2024.
Acknowledgements
We wish to express their profound gratitude to the leadership and staff of the Institute of Materials Science of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan (NGO Physics-Sun), for their invaluable support and collaboration during the field research phase of this project. We offer special thanks to Dr. Zhavohir Shermatov for his gracious guidance and for warmly facilitating our work within the extraordinary environment of the furnace facility.
Contacts
Feel free to write us and ask a question
gleb.rogozinski AT gmail DOT com
heikki.vastiala AT gmail DOT com