Grass - Multi Channel Immersive Sound Installation @ NYU (2025)

I was invited by Harvestworks and Diapason Gallery to present a version of my Grass piece at NYU’s Audio Lab in Brooklyn. This space houses an amazing array of speakers with fabulous acoustic treatment and incredible acoustics for producing immersive audio. This installation was done using 8 channel audio, completely surrounding the listener. This installation is inherently site-specific, and is “set” in different ways in different spaces (see the very different version for the Harvestworks Governor’s Island space).

Grass is a multi-channel sound installation that explores systems of synchronicity in large environments of rhythmic sounds. These kinds of sound are often generated by large populations of insects (crickets, cicadas, etc.) within ecosystems, where moving in and out of synchronicity is often one important aspect in communication. The sounds in this piece are generated using ambisonic and other field recordings and are also created synthetically in a more mathematical way – creating a kind of sonic moiré pattern of rhythmic interference. Nonetheless, the reference to specific natural ecosystems and how they behave sonically is also quite specific and important .