Ginger Miles – Radio Landscape (2008)
Radio Landscapes is a series of radio documentaries that explore how landscape can make community, how communities are formed by history, circumstance and opportunity; how they are propelled to form creative collaborations and alliances; and what issues they now face. Radio Lanscapes Two (in New York) will be set on the Lower Manhattan landfill where Art On The Beach was created and performed. Interviewees will include performing artists and venues which were active in the 1980s and how they contributed to the present-day art scene globally. As a whole, the piece should shed light on the community as a whole as it began, and the contributions and contrasts which exist in the present day. Radio Landscapes One focussed on the San Ildefonso Pueblo during World War II, a time when Oppenheimer and the Los Alamos Lab were making the atomic bomb.
John Morton – Central Park Sound Tunnel (2008)
Central Park Sound Tunnel is an interactive sound installation that reflects the multi-faceted sonic landscape of Central Park, by using digital live alteration of the Delacourt Chimes and field recordings of Central Park. An array of six speakers installed on or near the ceiling of the pedestrian tunnel north of the Central Park Zoo, will take advantage of the bi-hourly Delacorte Clock Chimes to “compose” variations of the chimes and “sonic accompaniments” that dissipate over time. These accompaniments include a harmonic blend of environmental sounds such as horse hooves clopping, birds, chirping, playground sounds, or text articulated with chime rhythms. Each unique “performance” will last approximately up to 20 minutes, responding to sixteen different tunes of the Delacourt chimes which play over a period of 8 hours.
Michelle Nagai – R/nR (2008)
The R/nR is a room-sized musical instrument and multi-channel sound system designed for live interactive movement and sound performance, played by a combination of active and passive input from dancers, musicians and audience members. The R/nR will be set in a black box theater roughly 25′ x 30′ enclosure built of clear Plexiglas, with “in the round” seating on all sides. Created in collaboration with choreographer Daria Fain, poet/builder Robert Kocik, lighting designer Kryssy Wright and a cast of 5 dancers and 2 musicians, the R/nR will premiere in December 2008 as the performance setting for an evening-length dance work choreographed by Fain, called “The Extent to Which”.
Maya Suess – It It and the Gimme Box (2008)
A variety show and still-life, “It It and the Gimme Box” is a playful multi-channel video installation that toys with our object obsessed culture. “It It and the Gimme Box” is made up of five portraits of consumer objects, represented through video, song and viewer interaction. Five enclosed portals will be mounted around a gallery or (preferably) an empty retail space. They will extend from the wall’s surface, built for the viewer to partially enter. Each portal will contain a 12″ monitor and surround sound speaker installation. Incorporated into the design of each portal are explicit instructions for the viewer to perform a gesture (for example, “extend your arms forward”). Using movement sensors and Max/Jitter technology, this gesture triggers and sustains various video clips and acts as a form of “currency” between the viewer and the work.