New Public Art Component Of Listen Hear: The Art Of Sound Open Near The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

The second of two public art components to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s critically reviewed exhibition, Listen Hear: The Art of Sound, opened at Ruggles MBTA station last week. “Harmonic Conduit,” as its title suggests, will link two neighboring communities – Northeastern University and Haley House Bakery Café in Lower Roxbury.

Created by internationally known sound artists Bruce Odland and Sam Auinger, known as O&A, the public art installation at Ruggles Station will tap into the soundscapes of the surrounding communities. Using special “tuning tubes,” sounds, including voices, bicycles, traffic and planes will be transformed into harmonic resonance and played back in real-time through specially designed speakers. The sounds captured at Haley House Café in Roxbury will be transmitted to the Northeastern side of Ruggles Station. Conversely, sounds gathered from the Northeastern campus will be sent to the Roxbury side of the station.

The installation is the result of a collaborative effort between the Gardner Museum, the artists, Northeastern University, Haley House Café and the MBTA.

The second public art component, Fens, is an installation in which visitors can enjoy an immersive sound walk using a GPS-based free app that responds to your location as your explore the Back Bay Fens. A variety of sounds from weather to water, fragments of speech to birdsong, evoke the different human and non-human processes that shape this urban landscape. The installation was created by artists Teri Rueb and Ernst Karel.

“These two public art installations mark the first time the Gardner has presented works outside of our own walls,” said Pieranna Cavalchini, the Museum’s Tom and Lisa Blumenthal Curator of Contemporary Art. “Now that spring has finally arrived, we hope everyone will take the time to listen and experience the way sound and space interact in our environment.”

To encourage the public to become more aware of their sound environments, the Gardner Museum will lead a “Sound Poems” workshop on June 15 from 12:30-4 pm, presented as part of Northeastern Crossing’s Gateway event. Taking place at Forsyth Circle by Ruggles Plaza, the workshop invites attendees to slow down, tune in, and create a poetic response to the sound installation Harmonic Conduit. A local poet will then re-mix and combine the responses into a poem which will be performed at 3:30 pm and 5:30 pm.

On view through September 5, Listen Hear: The Art of Sound features the work of 12 artists and architects from around the world who use a broad range of approaches to sound art in 10 installations in the Museum and in nearby neighborhoods. The works in Listen Hear approach the art of sound from various perspectives: visual arts, architecture, landscape, design, and music. Installations can be found throughout the Museum in the Tapestry Room, Dutch Gallery, Fenway Gallery, Courtyard, Hostetter Gallery and Calderwood Hall. The concepts range from sounds that were once heard at the Museum in the early years to the imagined sounds that might emerge from the empty frame that once held The Concert, by Vermeer, which was stolen in 1990. In the historic interior Courtyard, there is a subtle soundscape of insects and amphibian night calls, all of which are created by artist’s own voice. In Calderwood Hall, visitors hear sounds and music recorded in branches of the Boston Public Library, city parks, and post offices.

Listen Hear: The Art of Sound was curated by Pieranna Cavalchini, Tom and Lisa Blumenthal Curator of Contemporary Art, along with Peggy Burchenal, Esther Stiles Eastman Curator of Education, and Charles Waldheim, Ruettgers Curator of Landscape.

Among the artists participating from all over the world are: Philip Beesley, Toronto; Moritz Fehr, Berlin; David Grubbs, New York City; Elisa Hamilton, Arlington, MA; Ernst Karel, Boston; Lee Mingwei, Paris; Helen Mirra, San Francisco; O & A, (Bruce Odland, Hudson, NY and Sam Auinger, Berlin); Philippe Rahm, Paris; Teri Rueb, Buffalo, NY; and Su-Mei Tse, Berlin.

Listen, Hear: The Art of Sound has received generous support from the Boston Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Barr Foundation. The exhibition is also supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which receives funding from the State of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as by the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency which is funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, administered by the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture. Additional support is provided by Goethe-Institut Boston, Northeastern University, Haley House, and Emerald Necklace Conservancy. Media Sponsor: WBUR

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum - a magical creation of one woman's daring vision - invites you to awaken your senses and be transported. Modeled after a Venetian palazzo, unforgettable galleries surround a luminous courtyard and are home to masters such as Rembrandt, Raphael, Titian, Michelangelo, Whistler, and Sargent. The Renzo Piano wing provides a platform for contemporary artists, musicians, and scholars, and serves as an innovative venue where creativity is celebrated in all of its forms.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum • 25 Evans Way Boston MA 02215 • Hours: Open Daily from 11a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursdays until 9 p.m. Closed Tuesdays. • Admission: Adults $15; Seniors $12; Students $5; Free for members, children under 18, everyone on his/her birthday, and all named “Isabella” • $2 off admission with a same-day Museum of Fine Arts, Boston ticket • For information 617 566 1401 • Box Office 617 278 5156 • www.gardnermuseum.org

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