Shifting Center: Concert Hall

A volcano arrives at the concert hall to settle across the seats and displaces the frontality of the stage. It is an acoustic object that transforms the sonic properties of the space. When a volcano erupts, magma surfaces from beneath to scramble stratigraphic time. Its ash spreads far and wide and settles in other places.

Clay is matter of the earth and becomes medium in our hands—it is among the oldest technologies we have. A small amount can fill a room when shaped into a whistle. When such an instrument is played, it alters our sense of scale. In molding clay, we are holding time itself.

A dirge is a song that holds the loss of time. It carries absence forth as that which remains. A site is always already multiple sites. The earth opens onto an underworld and an afterlife. 

• Beatriz Cortez
• Ilopango, the Volcano that Left, (2023)
• Steel
  Approximately 144 x 234 x 120 in.
• Co-commissioned by EMPAC, Storm King Art Center, and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School.

• Cannupa Hanska Luger
• Volume (Fox, Ocelot, Vulture, Armadillo, Turtle), (2023)
• Globular whistles made from clay, fired three ways: pit-fired, wood-fired, electric kiln-fired, ceramic, sound installation
• Dimensions vary
• Commissioned by EMPAC

• Nancy Mounir
• Solћ (reconciliation), (2023)
• Higher Order Ambisonics, sound installation, 15 min. 28 sec.
• Commissioned by EMPAC