DATES AND TIMES: Opening October 18th 11-5pm, closing November 2nd, 2025
LOCATION: Harvestworks Art and Technology Program Building 10a, Nolan Park, Governors Island
FREE
Grass is a 24 channel sound installation that explores systems of synchronicity in large environments of rhythmic sounds as well as continuous sounds. In other words, synchronicity in time as well as in pitch. These kinds of sound are often generated by large populations of insects (crickets, cicadas, etc.) within ecosystems, where moving in and out of synchronicity is often one important aspect in communication within these populations. The sounds in this piece are generated both using ambisonic and other field recordings, but also in a more mathematical way – creating a kind of sonic moiré pattern of interference. Nonetheless, the reference to natural ecosystems is also quite specific and important .
While previous pieces of mine have incorporated multiple loudspeakers – often in very large numbers – for example Prairie, Green, and others – these pieces used digital outputs to create patterns of clicks that simulated various insect sounds and other natural sounds, but were limited in the sounds they could produce, in particular their amplitude, frequency range, etc. Nocturnal employs 24 channels of regular audio allowing for a broad use of field recordings, generative audio and other techniques. The 24 custom-made speakers are placed on the ground and arranged within the exhibition space in a site-specific configuration.
- BIO Shawn Decker
Shawn Decker is a composer, artist, and teacher who creates sound and electronic media
installations and writes music for live performance, film, and video. His is positioned at
the intersection of music composition, the visual arts, and performance, using physical
and electronic media to investigate, simulate and praise the natural (and unnatural)
worlds. He frequently collaborates with other artists, including most recently Jan Erik-
Andersson, Anne Wilson, and Jan Tichy. As an artist whose work spans multiple
disciplines, from making use of technology and technological processes on the one hand
and incorporating the study of birdsong and ornithology, and traditional elements such as
Irish and American folk fiddle-traditions on the other – merging physical elements and
techniques from sculpture with environmental sound and music performance, Decker
sees art and art-making within a very broad context. As a senior faculty member at the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, education is another element within his broad-
based practice, with teaching supporting artistic production, and vice-versa.
His work has been frequently performed, seen, and heard in the US, Europe, and Asia at a
wide variety of venues. He frequently collaborates with other artists, including most
recently Jan Erik-Andersson and Anne Wilson. Recent exhibitions of both solo and
collaborative work have shown at venues such as: the Kiasma Museum in Helsinki, the
Museum of Art and Design in New York, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Pritzker
Pavillion in Chicago’s Millenium Park, the Minnesota Museum of American Art, the
Victoria and Albert Museum in London, CAM Houston, the 2003 Biennial of Electronic
Art in Australia, Art Basel Miami, the Klosterruine in Berlin, ISEA2002 in Nagoya, the
21st Century Museum in Kanazawa, Japan, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, CAM
Houston , ISEA2000 Paris, the Waino Aalto museum in Turku, Finland and numerous
others. Decker is a Professor in the Art and Technology and Sound departments at the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
- PRESS
https://proartibus.fi/en/oasis/9-jan-erik-andersson-shawn-decker/
https://youtu.be/ouWE2Vy6irs
https://art.newcity.com/2013/04/09/portrait-of-the-artist-shawn-decker/