Juan Antonio Olivares, Fermi Paradox III, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Bortolami, New York. Photo: Tucker Bair

Fermi Paradox III, a twenty-four-channel sound installation by Juan Antonio Olivares, refers to physicist Enrico Fermi’s provocation that while there are billions of stars in the universe, some of which likely have Earth-like planets, humanity has yet to encounter intelligent extraterrestrial life. Each of the twenty-one seashells and sponges—hanging galaxy-like in the Lunder Center gallery—is embedded with a micro-speaker that plays recordings from an eclectic range of sources. Olivares, who studied philosophy and art, includes existential musings from, among others, philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, physicist Stephen Hawking, and singer-songwriter Nina Simone. The human search for meaning and kinship emerges from these hushed and fragmentary tones.