Evanston Biennial 2025 proposal
Water and Fire
Water and Fire is an immersive 8 channel sound installation building on ideas from a number of my past immersive installations which explore the complex sonic relationships within natural ecosystems and environments. Much of my work has centered around these large scale installations which can see by looking through my website. Many of my multi-channel works - both solo and collaborative - have been shown in prominent public and gallery settings.
image: Prairie - Chicago Cultural Center - (2013)
Water and Fire is is a variation on an ambisonic piece, grass, which is based on the same ideas and was awarded a 2025 Harvestworks New Work Grant/Residency and will be presented in New York later this year. The image on the right shows the speakers used in this installation, which will be the same as those used at the Evanston Art Center.
Water and Fire is an 8 channel installation, using 8 custom speakers placed on the floor, and positioned as in the diagram to the left. The space should be a minimum of 12’ long and 6’ wide. The piece is a highly spatial treatment of a recording made on an Island in the Finnish Archipelago of a wood fired Finnish Sauna, perched on the edge of the Baltic Sea, being prepared for a sauna. This intimate sonic portrait of this place and moment documents the role of tradition and daily rituals which connect us so closely with the places we live. The live presence of water, and human movements of collecting water, gathering wood, starting a fire, etc. envelop the listener within the 8 channel environment.
While I can’t present the full experience of the 8 channel sound environment, I can give you a sample of a stereo version of the recording, which will in no way unfortunately capture the immersive nature of the 8 channel version. Here is a link to a soundcloud recording of the stereo file: