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Elevated Harmonies
Friday, October 6 - Saturday, October 14, 8am - 8pm
Photo by Florence Eymery
Sam Auinger and Bruce Odland presented an instrument that transformed the noise of daily life in Manhattan into a living harmonic series. A tuning tube suspended from the railing at Elevated Acre, a second-story outdoor park at 55 Water Street, collected the sound of traffic, helicopters, and boats, all visible from the plaza, and transformed them into a harmonic sound which was played from three blue cement cube speakers on the walkway. The process created a pleasant and gentle musical atmosphere, humanizing the industrial sounds of fossil-fueled daily life and enhancing the garden atmosphere of Elevated Acre. The sound engaged visitors to sit, reflect, and listen.
Looking east. Photo by Florence Eymery.
After the festival, Alex Ross wrote in The New Yorker:
"Earlier this month, a sound-art festival called 'Ear to the Earth' stealthily occupied spaces around Lower Manhattan, creating exotic soundscapes and sending out subliminal messages about the fragility of the environment. Endangered birds of Madagascar chirped and squawked inside the World Financial Center. Various species' songs and cries were electronically processed in installations at the multimedia space 3-Legged Dog, on Greenwich Street. And, in the Elevated Acre, the hidden rooftop park on Water Street, the sound artists Bruce Odland and Sam Auinger presented a project entitled 'Elevated Harmonies,' which offered a new way of hearing a denatured world. A sixteen-foot tube was suspended above the roadway, catching the rumble and clatter of cars, buses, helicopters, and passing boats. The sounds were broken down into fundamentals and overtones, then broadcast into the park from three cube-shaped loudspeakers made of cement. Aggravating noise metamorphosed into calming drones. On the last day of Indian summer, a few people sat on benches beside the cubes, listening to the city's secret song."
This event is made possible by support from Lower Manhattan Cultural Council with the generous support of The September 11th Fund.
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