Florasonic

Forasonic  is a unique program that commissions composers and artists to make new site-specific music and audio art installations for the Fern Room of the Lincoln Park Conservatory, a turn-of-the-century greenhouse. Curated by ESS Executive Director Lou Mallozzi, florasonic presents each project for three to five months, visited by an estimated 500 to 1,000 people each day.

Current project:

In the event that the stag horn fern becomes metallic and that each of its bifurcating leaves rings like a tuning fork, please turn off this recording, Mark Booth, June 3 - September 30, 2007

Lincoln Park Conservatory
2391 North Stockton Drive, Chicago
Hours: open daily 9AM- 5PM, free admission

In the event that the stag horn fern becomes metallic and that each of its bifurcating leaves rings like a tuning fork, please turn off this recording is attempt to approximate cicada songs in response to those insects that surround us in summer - similar to what we often do by whistling back to birds to respond to them. Mark uses two sources that he records and manipulates to make this piece: acoustic guitar and voice. The guitar strings are set into continuous vibration by electronic devices, and the resulting drones are subtly altered by inserting cards, paperclips, and paper into the strings. The vocal sounds are called "uvular trills", soft clicks and vibrations produced in the back of the throat.
Mark Booth is a language artist who works in several artistic disciplines, including music, sound installation, visual art, and writing. He has exhibited and performed in numerous galleries, festivals, and venues, including the Overgaden Festival in Copenhagen, the Chicago Cultural Center, Links Hall, Hyde Park Art Center, and Bodybuilder and Sportsman Gallery in Chicago. He teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Special thanks Kathleen Odell and Brood XIII. 

 

Past projects: 
Chorus, by Shawn Decker, November 5, 2006 - April 30, 2007
The Fifth Pythia of Deir el Qamar, by Michael Zerang and Mazen Kerbaj, July 16 – September 30, 2006
Pseudorniphones, by Bob Snyder (Chicago), November 13, 2005 - February 28, 2006
Calls and Songs, by Hal Rammel (Chicago), June 18 - September 28, 2005 
Next 3 Miles, by Amnon Wolman (Brooklyn), November 2004 - January 2005 *
Was It For This?, by Stephen Lapthisophon (Chicago), June 2004 - September 2004
Transgenesis, by Olivia Block (Chicago), November 2003 - February 2004 * 
Bira, by Douglas R. Ewart (Minneapolis), July 6, 2003 - September 28, 2003 
Music for a Greenhouse, by Walter Faehndrich (Switzerland), November 7, 2002 - April 6, 2003 * 
Something More Than Night, by Terri Kapsalis, John Corbett, and Ellen Rothenberg (Chicago), June 29, 2002 - September 22, 2002 
Fern Room, by Ernst Karel (Chicago), November 8, 2001 - January 6, 2002 *

* presented in conjunction with The Outer Ear Festival of Sound