fulgurite, walnut wood, urushi lacquer, mother-of-pearl
Lightning is a high-energy electrical discharge, a process of equalization between clouds and Earth. In a single instant, the surrounding air reaches temperatures of up to 30,000 Kelvin, about five times the temperature of the Sun's surface. In sand, the energy of the discharge transforms quartz into glass.
What remains is a fulgurite: a hollow, branching structure in which the path of lightning materializes, holding an extreme event in mineral form.
In the Fulgurite Flute, this geological trace becomes a resonant body. Through the flow of breath, the mineral trace of a lightning strike reawakens as sound.
The individual form of each fulgurite shapes how the air vibrates within it and the sound that emerges.
an extreme event, released as sound
The fulgurite is both geological record and instrument: a structure shaped by lightning and activated by breath. Barbara Husar developed the Fulgurite Flute in dialogue with astrophysicist Michel Breitfellner, tracing the passage from geophysical event to sound.
Together with flute maker and musician Stefan Kronsteiner and producer André Lehner, the project continues in FLUX FULGUR, a four-track EP: a series of fulgurite flutes in interplay with the elements that brought them into being.
VIENNA ART WEEK 2026
The Fulgurite Flute comes to Vienna Art Week with a first preview of the forthcoming EP FLUX FULGUR. Natural History Museum Vienna · 11 November 2026 · 18:00
