Sonic Forest, New York

2004 – 2006, Lincoln Center, Union Square Park
New York City, NY

Sonic Forest was designed as part of his effort to revitalize open spaces within the urban environment. It is composed of 16 four-foot-tall aluminum “trees” containing audio speaker, lights and photo-electric sensors. As people pass between the “trees”, they trigger melodic and environmental sounds, creating a “sonic forest”. Depending on the time of day, participants may also trigger preprogrammed sound patterns–for instance, a flock of birds or frogs and crickets crawling through the open space, or a swarm of fireflies passing overhead at night.

In New York City, Sonic Forest has been installed at Lincoln Center as part of the Out of Doors Music Festival and in Union Square Park, co-produced by Dancing in the Streets, Inc. as part of a citywide festival that Janney co-directed, titled “New Sound, New York.”

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