NASHVILLE |JUNE 19, 2008
FR: ALEXANDRA GREENBERG/MSO
BRINGS HIS ‘SONIC FOREST’ TO
THE MILE HIGH AND ALL POINTS WEST MUSIC FESTIVALS THIS SUMMER
World-renowned sonic architect CHRISTOPHER JANNEY of PhenomenArts, Inc. continues to bring his works to the world’s most recognized cultural events and venues with the announcement that his audio architecture piece “Sonic Forest” will be featured at two of America’s newest music events: the Mile High Music Festival in Commerce, Colorado on July 19 & 20 and All Points West at Liberty State Park in New Jersey August 8, 9 & 10.
The “Sonic Forest” piece–which has also appeared in the U.S. at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival and Bonnaroo–is an array of 16 aluminum columns fitted with speakers, lights and sensors that are set off by human interaction. Wrote Leslie Simmons of the Hollywood Reporter in her coverage of the installation at Coachella (4/29/08), “It’s hard to imagine a forest with chirping birds, frogs and howling wolves in the middle of the desert. But one appeared during the weekend in the form of 16 8-foot-tall aluminum cylinders. Christopher Janney’s Sonic Forest, emitting animal and musical sounds, was among the interactive art installations at Coachella. Thousands of festgoers walked through the ‘urban musical instrument,’ in which the shiny cylinders are hooked up to 64 sensors connected to speakers. When coming into human contact, the sensors set off sounds Janney has been collecting for decades from around the world.”
Other places Janney has toured his “Sonic Forest” include the Glastonbury Festival and “Hyde Park Calling” with Pink Floyd and The WHO in the U.K. It is currently featured at the World’s Fair in Zaragoza, Spain.
Meanwhile, in December Janney will venture to Ft. Worth Texas for the opening of his “Parking In Color,” a permanent interactive sound/light piece for the façade of the 9-story Fort Worth Convention Center parking facility. Here's a full list of Christopher Janney’s installations, performances and lectures for 2008:
| 6/14-9/14 | "Sonic Forest: Zaragoza" installation | World’s Fair | Zaragoza, Spain |
| 7/19, 7/20 | “Sonic Forrest” | Mile High Music Festival | Commerce City, CO |
| 8/8-8/10 | “Sonic Forrest” | All Points West | Liberty State Park, NJ |
| 15-Dec | "Parking In Color" Permanent Installation | Ft. Worth Convention Center parking Facility | Ft. Worth, TX |
| 16-Jan | "Lou Kahn and My Sound" lecture | Kimbell Art Museum | Ft. Worth, TX |
About Christopher Janney:
Christopher Janney was trained as an architect (Princeton University, B.A. Architecture – Visual Arts, 1973 – magna cum laude; M.I.T. – M.S. Environmental Art, 1978) and a jazz musician (private studies, 1963-1973, Dalcroze School, 1974-75). He launched his own multi-media studio, PhenomenArts, Inc. in 1980 with offices in Boston and London where he has created numerous permanent interactive sound/light installations and performances attempting, on the one hand, to make architecture more "spontaneous" (Harmonic Runway, Miami Airport; REACH:NY, 34th St. subway, New York) and, on the other hand, to make music more physical (HeartBeat:mb with S. Rudner, M. Baryshnikov). He has been awarded The Gyorgy Kepes Prize from MIT, "Sound Designer of the Year", by LDI/Theater Arts Magazine and the Edison Award from General Electric for innovation in design. His work has been profiled on CBS Sunday Morning, HGTV, Architectural Record, Metropolis Magazine, The New York Times and in a 30-minute award-winning documentary titled "Drum of Time." A book on his work, titled Architecture of the Air, was released in February, 2007 with the inauguration of “Rainbow Cove Green and Red,” two nine-story elevator/stair towers at Logan International Airport, Boston, MA together with an exhibition titled “Urban Musical Instruments” at The Center for Architecture in New York, NY. Believing also that architecture is about a manifestation of the "public spirit," Janney lectures widely on his work and been a visiting professor at both The Cooper Union School of Architecture and Pratt Institute School of Architecture where he has taught his seminar, "Sound as a Visual Medium."
For more information on CHRISTOPHER JANNEY and PHENOMENARTS, INC., contact:
Alexandra Greenberg/MSO
818-380-0400 x223, agreenberg@msopr.com
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ARTIST/COMPOSER CHRISTOPHER JANNEY BRINGS HIS ‘SONIC FOREST’ TO THE MILE HIGH AND ALL POINTS WEST MUSIC FESTIVALS THIS SUMMER
