Brian House and Sue Huang. Juried Artists
Constellations
WebXR on the Styly platform
Artist Statement
Post-Natural Pastorale is a sound/video installation that explores the relationship between human and environmental temporalities in a time of climate crisis. The project takes as its starting point New York City’s Freshkills, once known as Fresh Kills Landfill, the largest municipal dump in the world. Currently in the process of a decades-long transformation into a public park, Freshkills is a uniquely liminal space, where our long-term effects on the Earth are palpable.
The installation emerges from the multitemporal dynamics of this environment—the thousand-year decay of a Styrofoam cup, the multigenerational use of the land by humans, the seasonal cycle of the regenerating vegetation, and the gathering of clouds. Each of these temporal layers is translated into musical notation using municipal and public data, including statistical projections of weather patterns and methane and leachate emissions data from the Department of Sanitation.
The resulting eight scores are played by double bassist Robert Black (Bang on a Can All-Stars). When heard simultaneously, these performances create a soundscape of data that coalesces multiple temporalities into one immersive experience.
Supported by The Robert Black Foundation and the Scholarship Facilitation Fund (UConn Office of the Vice President for Research). Selected by Creative Capital On Our Radar 2020.
Styly link: Post-Natural Pastorale
About the artists
Brian House is an artist who investigates the rhythms of human and nonhuman systems. Through sound, subversive technology, and multidisciplinary research, he makes our interdependencies audible in order to imagine new political realities. His current project, Macrophones, explores atmospheric infrasound as a means of listening to the climate crisis. House is a Creative Capital awardee and has exhibited at MoMA, Los Angeles MOCA, Ars Electronica, ZKM Center for Art and Media, Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, and Eyebeam, among other venues. House holds a PhD in Computer Music from Brown University and is Assistant Professor of Art at Amherst College.
Sue Huang is a new media artist whose work addresses collective experience. Her research explores ecological intimacies, human/nonhuman relations, and speculative futures. Huang has exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles; the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in Cincinnati; Philadelphia Contemporary; Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria; and GBA in Brooklyn; among others. She received her MFA in Media Arts at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and her BS in Science, Technology, and International Affairs from Georgetown University. She is an assistant professor of Digital Media and Design at the University of Connecticut.
Credits: Brian House and Sue Huang