SUPRASONIC
Seymour at the Garner Arts Center
October 12th & 13th, 2013
Garner Arts Center
55 West Railroad Avenue
Garnerville, NY 10923
garnerartscenter.org
We are pleased to present the photos, description and results of our project created for the Garner Arts Center’s exhibition Reimagine: Dreams, Machines, Light and Space.
We chose to create an experience that focused on sound. As a sensory tool, auditory stimuli effects emotions, alters time, and allows the brain to experience perceptions and memories in nonlinear narratives. In short, sound triggers brain activity and stimulates the imagination.
In an effort to make the project accessible and enjoyable to visitors of all ages, we created a design framework suggestive of an amusement park roller coaster ride. In traditional Seymour fashion, the project was hand-built and created from basic materials in the style of Arte Povera, thanks to our collaborator Ben Fiering of Third Floor Corporation who hand-built the ‘roller coaster’ cars.
The project space itself was darkened to heighten auditory stimuli and decrease visual stimuli.
Visitors were greeted in an anteroom and invited to take a Ticket To Ride.
The sign at the entrance read as follows:
Ride Seymour’s SUPRASONIC!
Take a plunge into the most exquisite landscape you have ever experienced – your own mind.
Ride the sound waves through time and space.
Close your eyes and open your ears.
Relax, listen and let your imagination lead you into the depths of your subconscious.
Follow the rustlings of your memory. Where do the sounds take you? What sensations or thoughts do the sounds trigger? Which sound was the most evocative for you?
Upon exiting the ride, please describe your experience in our Mindsurfer’s Journal.
Get your free ticket. Hop on board. Welcome to Seymour’s Suprasonic experience.
Frequent Seymour collaborator, Catherine Talese conceived and recorded a compelling soundscape which employed a variety of field recordings designed to excite the imagination and provide listeners with an opportunity to dive into their subconscious mind and explore how it identifies sounds, creates narrative, and educes memories.
To hear the 7 minute soundscape we presented to visitors, please click below:
Over 200 visitors of all ages participated in Seymour’s Suprasonic experience. They rode the soundwaves into their subconscious, and surfed their mindwaves with great enthusiasm. Many people stayed long beyond the 7 minutes and ‘rode’ multiple loops.
After exiting the room, they were invited to share the visions, ideas and/or memories the sounds evoked for them. They did so by expressing themselves in our Mindsurfer Journals. Please click on the link below to hear a recorded selection of these impressions and memories.
At the end of the experience visitors were also given a complimentary Post Card: Souvenir from Inside Your Exquisite Mind as a takeaway reminder that one’s subconscious is an exhilarating and inspiring place that should be visited often.
Project conceived and produced by: Catherine Talese and Melissa Unger.
Special thanks to: Curator Jonathan Schorr for inviting us, Garner Arts Center President Robin Rosenberg & Executive Director James Tyler for hosting us, Ben Fiering/Third Floor Corporation, Dave Ferdinand/One Dream Sound, Danny/Beckerlee Lumber-Haverstraw, Rick Johnson/RJ Originals, Brennan Cavanaugh, Nan Talese, Valerie Unger, Miles Dunsmoor, Hector, Mike, Benji, Junior, Savitri D.
Photos in slideshow above by: Brennan Cavanaugh and Catherine Talese.