The Logos

Signals from the distant past

The Logos is an immersive sound and spatial installation by Andrew Melchior, created for the scale of Oulu Cathedral and featuring real signals originating from deep space. At the heart of the work are Fast Radio Bursts – brief flashes of radio waves that may have travelled for up to nine billion years before reaching Earth.

Artist Andrew Melchior’s work draws on research data by MIT physicist Kiyoshi Masui. He has transformed these normally invisible and inaudible phenomena into sound, composing a spatial environment that fills the entire cathedral. A textual and conceptual layer developed in collaboration with philosopher Timothy Morton introduces reflections on time, scale, and humanity’s place in the universe.

The installation has been created in collaboration with Oulu Cathedral. Its spatial sound system allows audio to move from the dome and walls through the space and around the listener, making distant cosmic phenomena physically present and perceptible.

The Logos exists at the threshold between scientific measurement and human meaning. It invites visitors to pause before something older than ourselves and vast beyond comprehension, and to reflect on our relationship with time, nature, and our shared future.

The Logos is open at Oulu Cathedral from 4 April to 31 December 2026. The installation is part of the Oulu2026 European Capital of Culture programme and the Lumo Art & Tech Festival.

About the artist

Andrew Melchior is a British-German artist, creative technologist, and producer working across music, sound, and emerging technologies. He is known for his collaborations with international artists including David Bowie, Björk, and Massive Attack. In these collaborations, he has worked as a creative technologist and producer, developing new ways of connecting music, space, and technology — from virtual reality and interactive applications to spatial sound works and data-driven compositions.

Melchior’s practice often brings together scientific research, technology, and art. He is particularly interested in sound, space, and listening, and in how technology can make the invisible and incomprehensible perceptible and experiential.

The Logos originated from Melchior’s first visit to Oulu Cathedral. The building’s acoustics and the idea of sound travelling through space resonated with signals that have travelled across the universe for billions of years. From these elements, he developed a work that brings cosmic scale into human experience.