THE NATURE OF MUSIC

OTHER MINDS AND THE DAVID BROWER CENTER PRESENT

Thursday, February 15, 2018, 7:00pmThe Richard & Rhoda Goldman Theater

David Brower Center2150 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA

Sound sculptor and multimedia artist Bill Fontana

Bill Fontana: BiographyImagine that instead of two ears, you had eight, located at various far distances from your cranium. Now you can hear a rich, telescoped orchestration of sounds live as they happen from disparate locations— from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Farallon Islands, for example.

Bill Fontana (b. 1947), is an American composer and artist who has developed an international reputation for his pioneering experiments in sound. Since the early 70’s Fontana has used sound as a sculptural medium to interact with and transform our perceptions of visual and architectural spaces. He has realized sound sculptures and radio projects for museums and broadcast organizations worldwide.

His work has been experienced at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum Ludwig, Cologne, the Post Museum in Frankfurt, the Art History and Natural History Museums in Vienna, both Tate Modern and Tate Britain in London, the 48th Venice Biennale, the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, and the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney He has done major radio sound art projects for the BBC, the European Broadcast Union, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, National Public Radio, West German Radio (WDR), Swedish Radio, and Radio France. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious international awards and fellowships.

Shadow SoundingsShadow Soundings creates a real-time connection between the 25th of April Bridge and the Museum of Art, Architecture, and Technology in Lisbon. Live cameras, microphones, accelerometers, and hydrophones (microphones designed to be used underwater for recording or listening to underwater sound) create an abstract real time media art work for the 800 Square Meter Oval Gallery, the main exhibition space in the Museum. There is one channel of live video from a camera atop the South Tower and there are 6 channels of recorded video from the bridge. The moving images are projected onto hanging screens viewable on both side.

The immersive sound sculpture is created from two parallel rings of speakers. One ring surrounds the inner core of the Oval Gallery and plays sonic choreography made from the live oscillating tones of traffic over a steel grid roadway, and accelerometers picking up the accumulative sonic energy from the main suspension cables. A second parallel ring of speakers sounds over the outer walkway ramp surrounding the Oval Gallery and plays a spatial composition derived from a live hydrophone in the Tagus River. This live hydrophone also plays from speakers on the river facing façade of the museum.

Primal Sonic VisionsThe goal of Primal Sonic Visions is to awaken a sense of astonishment amongst the public by the primal power and beauty of wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal energy sources. As people enter the space, they are met with an emotional experience that at first instills a sense of wonder, and later transforms into a deep reflection on the potential and power of these energy sources to be used in securing a future for our planet. This work comes at a particularly crucial point in time as the negative effects of climate change are becoming evident. This work is a unique collaboration between the artist and IRENA (the International Renewable Energy Agency) in a daring attempt to engage the public’s insight and awaken a global emotional reaction to the environment. The exhibition will also include a live media artwork with the new flood barrier system for Venice, MOSE. The Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico (Experimental Electromechanical Module) is an integrated system consisting of rows of mobile water gates intended to protect the city of Venice and its lagoon from the ever more frequent flooding.

Primal Sonic Visions had its origins in another collaboration with IRENA–Visions of Sustainability, an exhibition in Abu Dhabi of artistic works inspired by renewable energy and sustainability.

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