Felipe Pérez Santiago is the newest artist to join the SETI Artist-in-Residence (SETI AIR) program. Felipe is a composer, arranger, guitarist, conductor and sound artist and his musical project, Earthling is being developed in partnership with Jill Tarter, co-founder of the SETI Institute.

“The project’s goal is to create global collaborative music, for eventual launch into space, that leaves a message of who we are now as species, as humans, and as earthlings,” said Felipe. “Using online platforms and social media, we will invite musicians, artists, space lovers, humanists, and everyone else in the world to participate and build a community of music, art, and technology.”

After creating a database of crowd-sourced vocal submissions, followed up with percussion and guest musicians, Felipe will write the original Earthlings soundtrack. Later, they will develop a music app enabling anyone to create music and interact with the community.

Recently, Felipe performed a new work in as part of Golden Hornet’s "The Sound of Silence", a concert and album featuring 8 pieces of music by seven international composers and performed with cellist Jeffrey Ziegler. The piece, entitled "Quest", “fuels an intergalactic journey interrupted by meteor showers of industrial kicks and space invader statics influenced by astronomer Jill Tarter (Jeremy Steinberger, The Austin Chronicle).

The SETI AIR program facilitates an exchange of ideas between artists and scientists, fostering inspiration, and leading to new modes of understanding and expression. More than a dozen artists have developed new and compelling work in dialogue with SETI Institute scientists. Some examples include an installation inspired by the Kepler Space Telescope and its search for Earth-like exoplanets and a poem for an interstellar dust cloud.