Blog 01

A piece of art that I am focusing on is “In Harmonicity, The Tonal Walkway” by Julianne Schwartz, linked here https://massmoca.org/event/julianne-swartz-in-harmonicity-the-tonal-walkway/, text courtesy of the artist. The piece is located at MASS MoCA in North Adams Massachusetts and it is a hallway filled with various sounds, voices, singing, etc, that change based on your proximity to them. I admire how the work of art engages the audience in different ways and makes them disoriented just based on sound. I find this interesting because the hallway is necessary for patrons to use to access various parts of the museum, so there is no way to avoid the discomfort that the hallway can cause. Schwartz recorded 24 amateur and professional singers aging from 7-75. They were recorded in different spaces and from different distances to create different tonal qualities. To the best of my knowledge Schwartz solely recorded the individuals using off the shelf microphones but changed the environment in which the microphones were used. This piece was particularly inspired by peoples emotions and the complex relationships that take place between 2 or more people. This piece of art in particular opens up the conversation about the ways in which we can portray relationships in art, especially using non-visual mediums.