Andrew Bird & Ian Schneller Present Their Sonic Arboretum
The Sonic Arboretum is a collaboration between composer / violinist Andrew Bird and artist / sculptor / inventor Ian Schneller of Specimen Products. It is a sonic installation consisting of a “forest” of plant-shaped audio horn speakers powered by custom-made tube amplifiers. These speakers and amps will blanket the atrium at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art and serve as a compositional garden for Bird who will create new site-specific compositions that play continuously as museum visitors meander and follow the music’s lead. As part of the MCA Stage’s 2011-12 season the Sonic Arboretum will be on exhibit December 6 – 31 with two special Sonic Events on Wednesday, December 21 and Thursday, December 22 where Bird will perform using the Sonic Arboretum as the P.A.
The Sonic Arboretum debuted at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York in August 2010 where it came to life for a one-night-only performance of Andrew Bird’s music, realized via 53 sonic sculptures of Ian Schneller. Performing for a sold out crowd, Bird directed different horn groupings via multiple loops played live on violin, guitar, and glockenspiel creating an audiovisual landscape. For the MCA exhibit, the Sonic Arboretum will include upwards of 70 horn speakers, some three-feet tall, others tower nine feet, and some rotate. The horn speakers, handmade using compressed recycled newsprint and dryer lint, are powered by custom tube amps that are also entirely handmade by Specimen Products.
Bird will create a variety of new musical impressions specifically for the atrium space, layering violin, guitar and vocal loops, captured live, and sent shifting between clusters of speakers in the installation. These compositions will play back through the Sonic Arboretum continuously throughout the day.
The installation is free with MCA suggested admission ($12 adults, $7 students and seniors, free for children 12 and under, and free for Illinois residents every Tuesday). The two Sonic Events begin at 7:30 pm Wednesday, December 21 and Thursday, December 22. Doors open at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $35, $28 for MCA members, and $10 for students (subject to availability), tickets are limited and available online at http://www.mcachicago.org/performances or by calling the MCA Box Office at 312.397.4010.
