Olivia Block’s “12 Degrees of Sky” – Sound and Light Installation Opening

November 9-26, every evening following the James Turrell sunset light sequence. To check sunset times in Houston go here www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/houston
Installation opening on November 9 will begin following the Turrell Sequence at approximately 6 15pm.

Free of charge

Presented by Nameless Sound and REMLABS

Olivia Block’s “12 Degrees of Sky” is a dramatization of/investigation into the limitations and thresholds of human perception. These transitional moments are expressed through sound and color in varying degrees of brightness and loudness. Presented nightly through November 29, at the James Turrell, Twilight Epiphany Skyspace at Rice University, the piece can be enjoyed as a sound composition, light piece, or both.
For this experience, Block drew from the work of Alexander Scriabin, who, in 1910, composed “Prometheus, Poem of Fire,” Op. 60—partly based upon his interest in tone-color correspondence—for piano, orchestra, optional choir, and clavier à lumières (color organ). The color organ aspect of Scriabin’s composition was nearly impossible to produce while the composer was alive. Recognizing that artist James Turrell has expressed interest in synesthesia, suggesting that, like Scriabin, he too is intrigued by the pitch-to-color correspondence in human perception, Block conjoined these creative perspectives.
Employing Scriabin’s color-to-pitch mapping system with Turrell’s colored light system, Block created a composition which functions like a modern-day color organ. Composed for the multi-speaker system embedded in the walls of the Skyspace, “12 Degrees of Sky” combines electronically synthesized tones and the recorded sounds of the grand concert pipe organ at The Shepherd School of Music, performed by Hannah Lingen Cen. In addition to clear tones and colors emanating from the walls of the space, passages featuring white noise playing quietly and dim lights will create a perceptual twilight.
Supported by Nameless Sound and Rice University’s Arts Initiative Fund. Additional support for this program comes from the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University, which oversees, maintains, and curates the Rice Public Art collection.