Harmonic Sky
November 2016
Averill Park, NY, United States
Over the course of 5 weeks Arts Letters & Numbers hosted the installation Harmonic Sky, a collaborative project created by conceptual artist Megan Mosholder and composer Michael Harrison.
Harmonic Sky is an interactive, sound-based and light-sensitive installation. This mixed-media, heptagonal, structure was built specifically to frame the installation that Megan Mosholder constructed out of hand-painted, light-actuated white twine and eyelets creating a circular design above the audience, and capture the atmosphere of Michael Harrison's sound installation "Harmonic Constellations." Harrison used 14 tracks of pre-recorded violin (performed by Mari Kimura) and sine tones to create seven continuously evolving harmonic constellations of “just intonation” harmonies. The complex tuning gave an invisible geometric formation of periodic composite waveforms which could be experienced as a sonic hologram such that the listener could move and hear different tones in every part of the installation. A seemingly infinite array of rhythmic pulsations were the result of interference patterns perceived by the brain as acoustical beats. The result was a work that simultaneously connected to the natural world, through the natural tuning system, and yet decidedly created, as sine tones are pure sounds that do not exist in nature. Mosholder mimicked the proportions of Harrison’s Harmonic Constellations with the structure, creating a multi-media installation of integrated proportionality.
Megan Mosholder is a conceptual artist who operates in the real-world setting of the social-political landscape through site-responsive, sculptural installations.
Michael Harrison is a world-renowned composer and pianist. Michael has had a continuing presence as visiting artist and is a member of the advisory council of Arts Letters & Numbers.
Photography and videos by Danny Ghitis
Timelapse by Zelé Angelides
Compiled and edited by Sam Torres
"Harmonic Constellations" composed by Michael Harrison and performed by Mari Kimura (violins) and Michael Harrison (electronics), from Kimura's album Harmonic Constellations on New World Records
Thanks to: David Gersten, Frida Foberg, Ché Pérez, Danny Ghitis, Zelé Angelides, Sam Torres & Mari Kimura
