Artist: Jiayi Young

Title: Murmur: Lunar Specimen 12038,7

Medium: Ice that never melts

Year: 2025

"Modeled after a moon rock from Apollo 12, Murmur is an ice-like form that never melts. Its light echoes the phases of the moon, while sound calls outward toward our search for life in outer space. In humanity's insatiable pursuit of the impossible, consequences endure—through which the work reflects a shared, unfolding relationship among human activity, technology, and the future."

-Jiayi Young

Public Art installation at the Convention Center

This piece was designed for public Interactivity:

Listen closely—place your ear to the rock to hear sound mapping the known universe.

Walk around the sculpture to activate the light animation at night.

 

Please treat the work with respect and do not climb or stand on the sculpture.

Artist Statement

Murmur is an 8,600 lb, 6.5 × 5 × 8 ft interactive public sculpture created for the Sacramento Convention Center as part of its 2021 renovation. Commissioned by the City of Sacramento Art in Public Places, the sculpture's translucent, ice-like form is modeled after a segmented moon rock brought back from the Apollo 12 mission in 1969.

Objects such as moon rocks embody human curiosity, courage, and ingenuity—forces that make the unimaginable possible. At the same time, they invite reflection on the scope of human ambition and the extent of our technological reach. Developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Murmur takes shape amid uncertainty, manifesting as an “ice that never melts”—a paradox that holds questions of permanence, change, and what lies ahead.

Integrating data mapping and sensing technologies, the sculpture responds to presence through light and sound. Movement activates a shifting field of illumination that echoes the phases of the moon, while listening reveals a layered soundscape drawn from cosmic data. A heat map of the cosmic microwave background of the known universe is translated into sound, marking locations where cosmologists have searched for signs of life.

The sculpture also gathers ambient noise in real time, weaving it into an evolving sonic field shaped by its surroundings and its visitors. Together, these elements form a continuous murmur of signals, actions, and traces—through which the work reflects a shared, unfolding relationship among human activity, technology, and the future.

Jiayi Young is an artist and a designer. She creates interfaces, large-scale installations, and public art that are data-driven or informed by data findings. Her inquiries are critical and humanistic in nature, often relating to rapid technological advancements and their impact on the present-day human experience. Her work has been exhibited and published nationally and internationally.

Project Credit

The lunar specimen used to model the artwork is 12038,7. It is from the Moon's largest dark spot, known as the Ocean of Storms. The rock was struck by micrometeorites, which formed tiny craters across its surface. The dating of the cosmic ray tracks on the rock reveals that 12038 lay in complete stillness on the Moon for 1.3 million years before it was picked up by an Apollo 12 astronaut. 12038,7 is a subsample of the Apollo Lunar Sample 12038, the original parent rock that was collected on the Moon. The specimen's original size is about a few inches across. (source: NASA)

 

Astronomy and sound mapping, "Murmur of the Cosmos" : Jiayi Young and Shih-Wen Young

Project Engineer & Mechanical Engineering design: Jedediah Roach, Biological and Agricultural Engineering (BAE), University of California, Davis

 

Object Fabrication: John Rook, Lera Glass; Kelly Hand,

Satellite Models; Jiayi Young Studio

Metal Fabrication: Jedediah Roach, Andy Cobb, Tom Bell, BAE Shop, University of California, Davis

Structural Engineering: Todd Kemen, Response Structural Engineers

Electrical Engineering: Stuart Lindsey, M. Neils Engineering

Lighting Design: Ian Altares, B-K Lighting

Sound Components Engineering: Darryl Sato and Justine Sato

DMX Programming: Michael Grosse