Of Earth and Sun

Abby Aresty’s Of Earth and Sun is a year-long sound art installation for the Center for Sustainable Landscapes (CSL). Commissioned by Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, the installation celebrates Pittsburgh’s unique soundscape and illuminates the poetry of sustainable design. The project lies at the intersection of the arts, the environment and cutting-edge technology: for her sonic material, Abby has collected field recordings of natural sounds from around Pittsburgh. These will be combined into an algorithmically generated audio collage, and played through a 12-channel sound system deployed around the CSL. Just as this building collaborates with its environment to facilitate a greater connection to the outdoors, Of Earth and Sun engages the local community with their urban environment, through sound. A new initiative, Listen Up, Pittsburgh, will be launched in conjunction with this work’s development to engage the Pittsburgh community with their environment. It will involve residents in identifying some of the many sounds that will comprise the installation.

Of Earth and Sun is a generative composition which will continuously change with the seasons, time of day, and environmental conditions within and around the CSL. Upon entering the CSL, visitors will be immersed in a symphony of sound created with ambient recordings collected from throughout the region. Click below to hear a sample of the work:

Abby Aresty at The Center for Sustainable Landscapes from STUDIO for Creative Inquiry on Vimeo.

Press about Of Earth and Sun
1. TribLIVE – Sounds of nature get a ‘remix’ for Phipps project – 6/21/14 or as PDF

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