SONIC ARBORETUM - Andrew Bird and Ian Schneller's show at the Guggenheim Museum

SONIC ARBORETUM

The Sonic Arboretum is a collection of horn loaded speakers created for a collaborative project between Specimen's Ian Schneller and composer/violinist Andrew Bird. It is comprised of a ground cover of smaller horns existing among larger Specimen horns that punctuate the space and also add dynamic physical movement. Andrew sends musical information to different groups of horns via multiple loops played live on violin and other instruments.

For its debut, the Sonic Arboretum was presented to a sold-out crowd at New York's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum for a one-night only performance on Thursday, August 5, 2010. The event supported the museum's three-part series of live music performances and takes its thematic cue from the conceptual threads that weave through their exhibit Haunted: Contemporary Film/Video/Performance.

The horn collection features two new Specimen horn speaker designs: the Hornling which stands 2-feet tall and the Hornlet, which is slightly smaller at 1-1/2 feet tall. For the Guggenheim show, Ian and the Specimen crew created 32 Hornlings and 16 Hornlets and arranged them around the museum's rotunda floor. These new horns were punctuated with four of Specimen's 8- foot tall XL horns and the spinning Janus Horn.

photo DT Kindler

WATCH videos of the Guggenheim show:
YouTube Videos

READ live reviews:
Art in America	Crawdaddy!
PopMatters	Brooklyn Vegan
Paper Mag

ORDER Limited Edition Horn Speakers:
Guggenheim Hornlings and Hornlets

ORDER the Guggenheim Show Poster:
Limited Edition Poster

photo DT Kindler

Image Galleries
Below are links to photo galleries of the Sonic Arboretum. Included are journals with photos of the building process and of the Guggenheim show. We also created a slide show journal that requires Flash to view.

Photo journal from the show

Photo journal taken during the building process

SLIDE SHOW (requires Flash)

Collectively, these horns and Andrew's compositions form a fireworks display where the subject matter is not merely incendiary but orchestral in nature. Beautiful sounds, not just explosions. Panoramic and all encompassing, enveloping the listener, immersing and carrying them away to another place. The environment created by this assembly of horns enables sonic theatrics unobtainable with typical sound systems. Imagination becomes reality. Function as a flight of fancy. This is the Sonic Arboretum.

The spatial imaging of Specimen horns is unique and powerful. Both specific image placement and ethereal effects are obtained by these custom horns. An exquisite sonic field is punctuated by very specific commanding voices emerging from the XL horns and the spinning Janus Horn.

photo DT Kindler

Some of the horn speakers in this collection are front-loaded and some are rear-loaded. Front-loading tends to rifle and pinpoint sound waves while rear loading is expansive and ethereal. The Hornlings and Hornlets are all individually handmade from recycled newsprint, dryer lint (one of the earth's most squandered resources), baking soda, and birch. The formed cellulose is impregnated with shellac (the ingested and digested cellulose fiber excreted from the Lac beetle) for strength. They are all unique variations of the basic design.

These limited edition Hornlings & Hornlets are now available for purchase. Go here for more information including pictures of the available color finishes and pricing.

These octagonally-fluted horns seem to have grown on their own into the shapes they inhabit, their purpose is part of evolution, as it usually happens. I have wondered about the secret language of plant life, how nature interacts, meshes together, and creates a symbiosis between species. I think we humans are the odd men out, so we can only imagine what nature's party might be like.

photo DT Kindler

Watch videos of the Guggenheim show:
YouTube Videos

Learn more about the Guggenheim Dark Sounds exhibit and Andrew Bird:

Guggenheim Museum Dark Sounds Exhibit

Andrew Bird's Web Site

Sonic Arboretum poster designed by Sonnenzimmer:
18" x 24"
7 color silkscreen
Limited edition, signed and numbered

Click here to order one.