Serenade and Sonic Chandelier

Sonic Chandelier

The Sonic Chandelier is a celebratory piece that brings sound into a space. In contrast to the light of a chandelier, the energy that it transmits is sonic.The radiating reeds forming this touchable, low-hanging element invite touch. Each tactile gesture is re-produced as sound - the sound of touch. Visually this interactive installation appears to be a spontaneous intermingling of natural materials, brightly colored industrial fasteners, and the wires and electronics that signal the presence of interactive technologies. The extended circle formed by this piece brings people into relationship around the Sonic Chandelier, forming a fluid sense of community in a particular moment and place. This dynamic of nature, technology and community recurs in much of my work.

Serenade

Serenade, is a site-specific, temporary installation at the Beijing Film Academy in Beijing, China. In celebration of the newly renovated lobby at the entrance of the New Media area, Serenade called attention to the convergence of movement in this lobby. The edges bounding each side of this rectilinear space are permeable: the windows allow breezes from outside to enter the space, the elevator brings people in and out of the lobby, the stairway provides another access to the space, and the remaining edge is the entrance to to the New Media offices and studios.

Serenade makes palpable the movement of ambient air and pedestrian flow. Responding to the moving air and inviting tactile contact by people moving through this newly renovated atrium, the long feather quills radiating from this installation trace their own movement upon a surface that transforms each contact into a delicate sound that is amplified spatially.

The varied points of approach in the lobby activate sonic layers of the Serenade. Harmonic tones sound as the air moves the quills, a sheen of shaking bells is emitted as people emerge from the elevator and a percussive tapping punctuates the comings and goings of the New Media area. The duration and rhythm of these layered sounds shift with the activity of people and the atmospheric turns of the wind moving through the open windows. Serenades attunes people's awareness of this intermingling of activity and movement in this space of convergence.