• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • BOSTON BETTER BEER BUREAU
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT
    • MASTHEAD
    • ADVERTISE
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Boston's Only Newspaper

SYNESTHESIA AT THE ICA BOSTON

Written by SPENCER SHANNON Posted February 10, 2015 Filed Under: Visual Arts

AR_ICAPreview_728

With When the Stars Begin to Fall: Imagination and the American South, and Sonic Arboretum, two new distinct exhibits that cast an intimate eye on the human relationship with nature and sound, the ICA has juxtaposed portraits of American vision and straightforward innovation.

 

To stand in the midst of When the Stars Begin to Fall is to stand beneath the turning skies in the fields of rural Virginia. Interwoven sounds of nocturnal animals and whispering trees travel through each room of the expansive gallery, adding context to this spiritual commemoration of the American South spanning the 50 years since the apex of the Civil Rights Movement. This soundtrack, titled “As I rest under many skies, I hear my body escape me,” was crafted by audio artist Kevin Beasley. His piece explores how a place and time can be displaced and revisited; a theme shared by many of the multimedia works from the 35 African-American artists brought together for the exhibition.

 

When the Stars Begin to Fall is unique in that, for several of the artists, it will be the first time their art is being displayed in any kind of professional capacity. Expansive, exuberant pieces examining themes of American domesticity, black culture, and Southern folklore have been produced by midwives, herbalists, incarcerated victims, mental illness sufferers, and healers hailing from different generations and diverse backgrounds. Many of them are self-taught, having stumbled upon their gifts later in life like Marie “Big Mama” Roseman, who, in her mid-seventies, began producing intricate, mystical quilts that preserve her history and experiences in vibrant color.

 

The title of the show references an African-American spiritual that celebrates the everyday majesty of morningas well as serving as a metaphor for the visionary journeys that led these common people to their personal “awakenings” as artists.

 

In the final room of When the Stars Begin to Fall, another assemblage of sound bleeds through the open doorway leading to the ICA’s West Gallery: atmospheric violin strings and the unmistakable whistling of composer/multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird.

 

In the immersive Sonic Arboretum, a collaboration between Bird and sculptor Ian Schneller brings together an original 50-minute composition that Bird recorded in the reverberating depths of a canyon and 36 colorful horn speakers of varying sizes and forms, each handmade by Schneller in his Chicago studio using compressed recycled newsprint, Baltic birch, and collected dryer lint.

 

Sonic Arboretum is composed of seven movements of varying moods and character. Each horned speaker serves as a channel through which individual sections of Bird’s composition play, resulting in a multifaceted collection of sound inspired by the biological sonar that animals like bats use to perceive space that they otherwise cannot see. As the sounds echo around the room, emanating from every corner, the music invites visitors in, taking on an intense, emotive quality that could only be achieved through the use of Schneller’s unique sculptures. Schneller calls the project the result of “mad visions,” and explains how he hopes one day to grow Arboretum to a larger collection of 96 channels that can theoretically be fed by composers placed in various locations across the globe using apps on their smartphones.

 

While the two shows share nothing on the surface level in terms of style and execution, both succeed in celebrating the irrepressible will to create from a diverse convocation of talent. When the Stars Begin to Fall completely disposes of the perceived line between highbrow and lowbrow art. It presents self-taught unknowns and formally trained artists side by side, celebrating the diversity of the Southern aesthetic tradition and calling viewers back to the land with pieces that blur the boundary between fantasy and reality, spiritual and corporeal. In the same vein, Sonic Arboretum makes music into a living, emotional force, the movements taking shape, commanding an uncommon complexity of feeling and a certain immediacy that feels wholly organic. Experienced separately or together, the exhibits are nevertheless united in portraying what magic human hands can create. They’re the perfect precursor to spring in a city that seems perpetually locked in winter’s grasp.


 

THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART/BOSTON PRESENTS: WHEN THE STARS BEGIN TO FALL + SONIC ARBORETUM. THROUGH MAY 10. SEE WEBSITE FOR DETAILS. ICABOSTON.ORG

SPENCER SHANNON
Related posts
  • SPENCER SHANNON
    https://digboston.com/author/spencer-shannon/
    BLACK DIALOGUE: INTELLIGENT MISCHIEF AND THE SUMMER OF RADICAL IMAGINATION
  • SPENCER SHANNON
    https://digboston.com/author/spencer-shannon/
    DEVIL’S ADVOCATE
  • SPENCER SHANNON
    https://digboston.com/author/spencer-shannon/
    THE SUBMISSION: ZEITGEIST STAGE'S SPRING CLOSER MEDIATES ON BIG ISSUES
  • SPENCER SHANNON
    https://digboston.com/author/spencer-shannon/
    MOTHERS AND SONS: TEARS AND TRUTHS IN SPEAKEASY STAGE COMPANY'S LATEST

Filed Under: Visual Arts Tagged With: Andrew Bird, Big Mama, Ian Schneller, ICA, Imagination and the American South, Kevin Beasley, Marie Roseman, Sonic Arboretum, Synesthesia, Virginia, When the Stars Begin to Fall

WHAT’S NEW

"Spotted Lanternfly, back_2017-06-16-16.50" by Sam Droege is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0

Invasive Spotted Lanternfly Alert!

Morale Violation: Whistle-Blowers Report Culture Of “Retaliation,” “Nepotism” At Parole Agency

Morale Violation: Whistle-Blowers Report Culture Of “Retaliation,” “Nepotism” At Parole Agency

Inbox: "Black Youth File Racial Profiling Complaint Against Medford Police"

Inbox: “Black Youth File Racial Profiling Complaint Against Medford Police”

Mass One Step Closer To New-Prison Moratorium, But Not There Yet

Mass One Step Closer To New-Prison Moratorium, But Not There Yet

Congrats To Worcester On Coming In At #69 On Best Places To Live List

Congrats To Worcester On Coming In At #69 On Best Places To Live List

Mass Supreme Court Sides With Asshole Sheriff In Prison Phone Fee Decision

Mass Supreme Court Sides With Asshole Sheriff In Prison Phone Fee Decision

Primary Sidebar

FEATURED EVENT

Most Popular

  • Morale Violation: Whistle-Blowers Report Culture Of “Retaliation,” “Nepotism” At Parole Agency
  • We Turned the North End Restaurant Lawsuit Against Mayor Wu Into a Musical
  • Do You Want To Work For the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission?
  • Inbox: Red Bull Cliff Diving Returns To Boston Waterfront
  • How Long Can Major Cannabis Cultivators Sustain Massive Indoor Grows In Mass?

CURRENT STREET EDITION

DIG 24.08 – 04/21/22

Footer

Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Advertise

Privacy Policy

Customer Service

Distribution

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an e-mail blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: [email protected] To reach Editorial: [email protected] For internship opportunities: [email protected]