CHRISTOPHER JANNEY OH PHENOMENARTS ANNOUNCES AUDIO ARCHITECTURE INSTALLATIONS

Press Release Content:
APRIL 17, 2008

FR:    ALEXANDRA GREENBERG/MSO

Installation artist and musician CHRISTOPHER JANNEY of PhenomenArts believes there is more to creating a dynamic environment than erecting buildings. Through the remainder of 2008, the world-renowned sonic architect will bring his works to the world’s most recognized cultural events and venues.

Beginning with the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, CA April 25, 26 & 27, Janney will make the west coast debut of his “Sonic Forrest” installation.  This is an array of 25 aluminum columns fitted with speakers, lights and sensors that are set off by human interaction.  Here the music continually changes and evolves in response to the participants’ action.   Previously, Janney had toured his “Sonic Forest” to the Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, TN and overseas at the Glastonbury Festival and “Hyde Park Calling” with Pink Floyd and The WHO in the U.K. Later on, from June 14 through September 14, the installation will be featured at the World’s Fair in Zaragoza, Spain.

On May 3, the famed a capella group, The Persuasions, will perform Janney’s classic work “HeartBeat” as part of the Power to End Stroke Conference in Atlanta, GA. “HeartBeat” achieved worldwide recognition in 1998 when the work was set on dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, who toured the piece for two years as part of his White Oak Dance project.  For this current production, Emily Coates, former member of the New York City Ballet, White Oak and Twyla Tharp Dance, will perform the movement sections of the piece while wearing the device.  The Persuasions will sing both rhythmic scat phrases and Janney’s arrangement of the famous Rogers/Hart song ”My Funny Valentine” over Coates’ heartbeat during the performance.

Janney will then bring his “Visual Music Project” with Moksha, the Berklee College faculty band to the Berklee Performance Center in Boston July 16.  Here he’ll join his two passions–music and architecture–by relying on sound to transform space with this "visual instrument" that allows him to "play" multiple images and forms in real time.

In December, Christopher Janney will then head to Ft. Worth for three events.  On December 15, he’ll open the “Parking In Color” permanent interactive sound/light piece for the façade of the Fort Worth Convention Center parking facility, where long vertical scrims of clear, illuminated glass cover each corner of the building and include an audio environment.  The next day (December 16) he’ll give a lecture titled “Lou Kahn and My Sound” depicting the famous American architect at the Kimbell Art Museum, followed by the launch of his “Touch My Building” installation—an interactive light/sound piece–which will remain in exhibit at the museum until February 16.

    
A full list of Christopher Janney’s installations, performances and lectures for 2008 are:

4/25–27	“Sonic Forrest” installation	Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival	Indio, CA
5/3	"HeartBeat" w/ The Persuasions performance sponsored by the American Heart Association	Power To End Stroke Conference	Atlanta, GA
6/14-9/14	"Sonic Forest: Zaragoza" installation	World’s Fair	Zaragoza, Spain
7/16	"Visual Music Project" w/ Moksha performance	Berklee Performance Center	Boston, MA
12/15	"Parking In Color" installation	Ft. Worth Convention Center parking Facility	Ft. Worth, TX
12/16	"Lou Kahn and My Sound" lecture	Kimbell Art Museum	Ft. Worth, TX
12/16-2/16	"Touch My Building" installation	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, contact:
Alexandra Greenberg/MSO
818-380-0400 x223, agreenberg@msopr.com

Press Release Teaser:
CHRISTOPHER JANNEY OF PHENOMENARTS ANNOUNCES AUDIO ARCHITECTURE INSTALLATIONS AT  COACHELLA, WORLD’S FAIR (ZARAZOGA, SPAIN), BERKLEE PERFORMANCE CENTER AND KIMBALL ARTS CENTER, PLUS EVENT WITH THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION IN ATLANTA