The New ICA - Boston, MA (Museum Tour)

WHEN: Sunday, December 10th, 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
WHERE: - 100 Northern Ave., Boston, MA
WHAT: This will be the official opening of the beautiful new ICA building on the Boston waterfront. The museum will be free and open to the public from 9AM until 9PM, though I will most likely only be collecting voices in the afternoon. This should be a huge and much anticipated event, so be sure to check it out. I will actually also have a piece in the 2006 ICA Artist Prize exhibit which is opening at the ICA that day as well. I wrote the music for a video piece by mullti-media artist Kelly Sherman, who is one of the four finalists for the ICA Artist Prize.

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Summary:

Number of voices recorded: 102 (yes, this is no joke)
Reading sheets used: 24
Weather: bright sun on a shiny building
Level of success: extremely high (and exhausting)
Records broken: most participants ever recorded at a single event (triple digits!)
Photos: Check them out

Initially, I thought that it might not be as cool to have the booth stationed in the tent outside the new ICA as opposed to being inside the new building, but as the day progressed, it became clear to me that this was the place to be. Don't get me wrong, the museum itself is beautiful and a fantastic place to see art, but I was there to collect voices and to spread the word of BYOV and there is nothing better than a captive audience to facilitate this. You see, the ICA can only hold a certain number of people at a time, and since it seemed like everyone in Boston was at the opening, they couldn't let everyone in at the same time. They devised a system of rolling admissions based on ticket numbers which seemed to work pretty well. And while people waited their turn, they got to hang out in the cozy warm entrance tent, listen to live music, drink some complimentary hot beverages, and, you guessed it, record their voices for me.

I was setup and ready to record around 9AM, and it was non-stop action from that point on. Typically it takes a little bit for things to get going, but this one kicked right in and didn't stop. I had to turn people away at the end when I was too exhausted to keep on going. I took one half hour break to go check out the museum, but given the crowds and the brevity of the visit, I didn't get to experience it as I would have liked, but this will happen upon my return sometime soon, I hope. The Artist Prize exhibit looked great, and CHAIRS, my collaboration with Kelly Sherman was up and running and looking good.

Thank you to Kathleen and David at the ICA for their support and persistence with making this whole thing happen. I was honored to be a part of the opening of such an exciting new institution in Boston.

As usual, click below to access some representative audio clips:

process-ing

transformation

spiral

desolation

I guess it kindof stinks, but you are very brave...

beauty = truth | truth = beauty

the art tarantula

I hope not...

existence is art

acorn animals

ahh, the younger generation...

superfluous bubbles

gaming

poly-equi-tri-sid-ehedron

truth