DOWNTOWN BERKELEY BART PLAZA
BERKELEY, CA, October 17, 2022 – Downtown Berkeley Plaza has created a unique series of public art installations in the hope it “attracts and encourages [people] to linger around the plaza”.
The Sound Hallway is an audio collage of performances programmed by a total of ten sound art commissions. Each commission will last three months and includes works from artists such as Chris Brown, Maggi Payne, Thea Farhadian, Margaret Noble, Danny Clay, Edmund Campion and Jim Mckee.
Sound is an undeveloped field of public art but in New York, you can hear the amplified hum of a tunnel junction from beneath Times Square. You can also hear Bill Fontana’s field recordings currently play from the side of the North Beach library branch in San Francisco. But up to this moment, an eight-or-more-channel speaker system for revolving sound installations has not yet been created.
Berkeley Sonic Prayer Flags is an eclectic mix of music and soundscapes from the past and present. The work is inspired by Berkeley’s rich history, chronicled in archival recordings from KPFA, Pacifica Radio Archives, The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archives, 1750 Arch Street, Gamelan Sekar Jaya, Will Bernard, Bay Area Radio Drama, The Hub, and Peter Apfelbaum and the Hieroglyphics Ensemble. These compositions span a range of over 50 years of recordings, including songs from 1500s chamber music to modern day electronic networking.
Featured artists:
The Hub, Suzanne Ciani, Bay Area New Gamelan, Sakar Jaya, Wendell Lipscomb, 1750 Arch Ensemble, Will Bernard, Tom Nunn, Peter Apfelbaum and the Hieroglyphics
Special thanks to: Jennifer Lovvorn, Zoe Taleporos, BAMPFA – Steve Seid, Michael Campos-Quinn, Priscilla Nunn, Eva Soltes and Bob Shumaker, Bay Area Radio Drama, and Samuel Wantman, Starr Sutherland and David Lawrence.
In memory of:
Donald Buchla (April 17, 1937 – September 14, 2016) was an American pioneer in the field of sound synthesis.
Tom Nunn (1946 – June 19, 2022) designed, built and performed with original musical instruments since 1976.
From October 17, 2022 – February 2023 you can hear Jim Mckee’s sound installation at the Downtown Berkeley Bart Plaza.
This piece is dedicated to Erik Bauersfeld who served as the Director of KPFA’s Drama and Literature Department for over 30 years, and who mentored scores of sound artists with his love, knowledge and appreciation of the arts
You can read more about this sound art instillation at the City of Berkeley website: https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/civic-arts/public-art/downtown-berkeley-bart-plaza