Two New Music Box Outposts Spring Up Across the U.S. & the Atlantic Ocean!
July 24, 2019 2pm
Two New Music Box Outposts Spring Up Across the U.S. & the Atlantic Ocean!
New Orleans Airlift partners with L’ Astrolabe, The Consulate General of France in New Orleans and the Hop Pop Hop festival to send a Music Box to Orléans, France!
France made an official alliance between the cities of New Orleans and Orléans in January of 2018, three centuries after Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville founded the Louisiana outpost in 1718. In celebration of the long-overdue twinning of our two historically significant cities, L’ Astrolabe and Hop Pop Hop festival have commissioned a brand new version of Western Electric, a stylized phone booth installation with spinning speakers, throwing sounds and voices in all directions, that is at the heart of the Music Box Village’s skyline.
This project represents artistic relationships deepening, and concepts in musical architecture growing and expanding! The original version of Western Electric, designed by artists Matty Ostrowkski and Nina Nichols, is gaining new interactive possibilities under the direction of Airlift’s resident Lead Technician Taylor Lee Shepherd.
The new installation will debut September 13th and 14th, 2019, in the urban center of Orléans at the Hop Pop Hop festival with the performance support of New Orleans local Bounce luminary Ha Sizzle, DJ Rusty Lazer and other special guests.
Prattsville: The small town Prattsville, NY, (population 700), nestled in the western Catskills, is the site of the latest Music Box Outpost. Our hosts, the Prattsville Art Center, have invited us to build musical architecture into the Victorian house that is their developing community site.
This exciting variation on our project is in part due to the damage that the art center and many buildings in town suffered from a tremendous flooding from their local river. Airlift’s designs are part of the rebuild, including a giant chime staircase and triggered “action steps” that make for a percussive and melodic interface. The project is led by Airlift staff artists Christian Repaal, Taylor Shepherd and Delaney Martin.
They will collaborate with community members on tuning of the chimes and bringing the piece to life. They will further leave the Prattsville Art Center with a template for inviting future artists to continue to add sonic interfaces to the structure - adding another unique twist to the development of Airlift’s second, permanent Music Box Outpost. The first permanent Outpost lives at Tourists, in North Adams, Massachusetts.
**Airlift Artists are available for interview, appearances and comment! Please contact Jay@neworleansairlift.org.