stillspotting nyc: Manhattan
To a Great City by Arvo Pärt and Snøhetta
September 15–18 and 22–25, 2011
Five locations around Lower Manhattan starting from Battery Park
stillspotting.guggenheim.org
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Second Edition in stillspotting nyc Series Exploring Stillness and Quiet in Urban Environment
For the second edition of stillspotting nyc, a two-year multidisciplinary project that takes the Guggenheim Museum’s programming out into the streets of New York City’s boroughs, Estonian composer Arvo Pärt and U.S. and Norway-based architecture firm Snøhetta create urban soundscapes around Lower Manhattan that explore the relationship between space and sound. To a Great City, the Manhattan edition of stillspotting nyc, will be open to the public for two extended weekends on September 15–18 and 22–25, 2011.
While the vitality and stimulation of the urban environment can be pleasant, those living in or visiting densely populated areas such as New York are often unaware that their ears continually need time to adjust to strong differences between the sounds that surround them—just as the pupils of the eyes only gradually accommodate to the change from light to dark.
Pärt (b. 1935, Paide, Estonia) has described his music as a frame for silence and uses reduction of sound rather than augmentation to create his compositions. Pärt’s concept of tintinnabuli (“little bells” in Latin), which forms the basis of most of his work, was born from his vision for an extremely nuanced aural environment that could not be measured, so to speak, in kilometers or meters but only in millimeters. His pieces often revolve around a central tone that reappears consistently throughout the work.
The Guggenheim Museum organized a collaboration between Pärt and Snøhetta in which the architects have selected—and in some cases subtly altered—urban spaces that embody the concept of a central tone and extend the perception of sound into the realm of space. Visitors will experience this confluence of music and architecture at five separate locations downtown that quietly celebrate the city, ten years after the September 11 attacks. Traveling through sites along the periphery of Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan, participants in stillspotting nyc may encounter a green labyrinth created by the Battery Conservancy, reflect in an underground chamber at Governors Island National Monument, and enter otherwise inaccessible spaces in landmark skyscrapers. The stillness and seclusion of these spaces heightens awareness and recalibrates one’s senses. Over the course of a day, participants may visit each space multiple times at their leisure to understand how their perception changes based on circumstances such as time, stress, appetite, and sleep. Listeners become increasingly sensitized as they are drawn in and ideally will be transformed to a focused and still state.
Visiting To a Great City
To a Great City is presented around Lower Manhattan among five locations with a starting point at Castle Clinton National Monument inside Battery Park (between Battery Place and State Street, Manhattan Hours are Thursday, September 15–Sunday, September 18 and Thursday, September 22–Sunday, September 25 from 11 am–7 pm with the last tour starting at 4pm. Visitors will receive a map and directions and access for one day to each of the stillspots for a self-guided tour. A full visit including each of the sites takes approximately three hours and visitors may opt to customize their route. Advance registration is required. To register and purchase tickets, find directions, or learn more visit stillspotting.guggenheim.org.
Stillspotting nyc is organized by David van der Leer, Assistant Curator, Architecture and Urban Studies, with Sarah Malaika, Stillspotting Project Associate, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
Support for stillspotting nyc is provided by the Rockefeller Foundation NYC Opportunities Fund and a MetLife Foundation Museum and Community Connections grant. The second edition of stillspotting nyc is supported in part by the Royal Norwegian Consulate General in New York. The Leadership Committee for stillspotting nyc is gratefully acknowledged.
