Perikon Smelters delves into the accidental occurrence of radiosensitive minerals with peculiar electrical phenomena to create a sound installation that resonates through and within crystalline formations. The work centres through sound on the path of Zincite (Zink Oxide), a red ruby crystal born in the fiery flames of human intervention to become the predecessor of the transistor. From the first accidental mine fire to the first electronically generated sound, Perikon Smelters traces the fascinating history of this mineral’s crystallography entangled with human error and sets to voice minerals that scream’ at the attentive, yet unstable touch of a needle.

Zincite is a scarce antropogen neither natural nor artificial. Found in tiny bits on meteorites, its formation on Earth is shaped by man-made accidents. Some of the first oscillating crystals were born in mine fires in New Jersey where zink ores were accidentally fused with manganese and iron impurities making them semiconductive. A contact between ZnO and pyrite makes a screaming tone as observed in 1907. Pikard G.W. names it Perikon opening the doors for other experimenters like Oleg Lossev to use zincite to produce electronically generated sound, way before the acknowledged invention of the transistor.

Perikon Smelters inspires sculptural circuits from Crystondyne (Losev’s early oscillator) to exalt inanimate semiconductors with 2 simple parts: a coil and a capacitor. When touched with electricity the minerals generate tones and amplify crackles through their accidentally fused inner impurities. 

Between 1980 and 2004, a flawed furnace in Olawa was clogged with an uncanny number of large crystals formed continuously as zinc vapours met with oxygen unintentionally. The work collects colourful specimens from this recent crystalization event and pairs them with historical matches like sulphides, galena and pyrites. One can say that these crystals form through human activity but in a pique of him. With Olawa’s smokestacks repaired, the precise mechanism of ZnO sublimation remains a mystery and no one knows when or if zincite will ever form again to oscillate. The work peeks at the fragile circumstance of Zincite formation and its ignored relevance in the history of digital technology to ponder upon the entanglements between human error, technological advancements and resulting shifts in Earth’s geologies.