I’m collecting sunsets. Technically speaking I built a sensor device that records temperature, humidity, air pressure, and light sensitivity information into a digital archive. From this archive the data can be dynamically recalled and used to translate the sampled values to pitch, and brightness information, through which I am turning the sunset data into sound. This process, which I just described, is called sonification, which is regarded as the translation of data relations to relations between pitch information with the purpose of expansion of communication channels.
The sunset is an interesting moment. It is a transitional period between light and darkness. While this seems like a banal way of describing the sunset, the general view is, our planetary existence is defined by the two oppositional philosophies of the Sun1. It provides visibility through the Sun that makes things appear, while the dark Sun (the lack of light) hides things. In general, I would argue that the sunset is invisible, although we can see it, we are not consciously experiencing every part of it unless we consciously decide to sit down somewhere to enjoy the sunset. Second, even if we do sit down, we are looking at it and experiencing it via our primary visual organs, while there are other things in motion that are affective changes. The visuality of the image is intense so the rest is ruled out to become part of the unconscious experience.
I sonify these values not primarily with the intention to communicate the changes of the values, I sonify these values so they can be hidden inside the monotonous movement of frequency changes. Hence the listener experiences the changes at a very slow rate and makes the process like amplifying a microclimate affected by the Sun.