MILWAUKEE, WI — Arup — an independent firm of designers, planners, engineers, consultants, and technical specialists — provided acoustic and audiovisual consulting and design services for the ‘Listening to Mitchell’ art installation which opened here July 11. The project, which also included an 18-channel storefront sound installation, relies on Biamp’s Tesira SERVER-IO for digital signal processing (DSP) to bring the interactive public exhibit to life.
More details from Biamp Systems (www.biamp.com):
Biamp Systems, a leading provider of innovative, networked media systems, today announced that the company will be donating the use of a Tesira SERVER-IO to support the immersive sound installation for the “Listening to Mitchell” art project co-created by Sonja Thomsen and Adam Carr. Arup — an independent firm of designers, planners, engineers, consultants, and technical specialists — provided acoustic and audiovisual consulting and design services for the project and produced the 18-channel sound installation. The Tesira SERVER-IO provides the digital signal processing (DSP) behind the acoustically enveloping experience in the storefront sound installation.
With the grand opening held July 11, the “Listening to Mitchell” public art installation features more than 50 interviews from local residents and businesspeople with strong connections to Milwaukee’s storied Mitchell Street and transforms them into a site-specific experience of place and collective memory to form an immersive sound and imaging exhibit. Set across a seven-block corridor, participating artists hope to spark a multifaceted conversation that reflects the area’s rich cultural history. To make this vision come to life, Arup Acoustic and Audiovisual Consultants Ryan Biziorek and Shane Myrbeck turned to the capabilities and performance available in a Biamp Tesira to help facilitate an acoustically enhanced soundscape that supports the project’s uniquely engaging environment.
“There is a significant, symbiotic relationship between the sounds of Mitchell Street and its diverse and rich cultural history,” said Biziorek. “The 3D sound installation exposes the subconscious audio experience that people experience daily through their travels and personal interactions on Mitchell Street. The 3D audio solution we developed included Biamp’s Tesira SERVER-IO to leverage its world-class audio processing to attain the kind of all-encompassing sound experience to make this exhibit come to life.”
The exhibit not only encourages visitors to pause, listen, and consider the street’s past and present-day identities, but also brings together artifacts, artwork, and photographs within a vacant storefront, inherently transforming the location into a forum for discussion. The space’s immersive installation, through a multi-speaker setup, mimics the area’s everyday street sounds to surround visitors with conversations of the community.
“Our joint practice is about making space for listening,” said Thomsen and Carr. “By working with Ryan and Shane from Arup, we were able to create an immersive sound installation in the heart of Milwaukee’s south side — allowing us to challenge expectations by creating a multi-sensory experience that redefines time and place. Arup has inspired us to think about the physical space of listening in new ways and opened up a range of new audio-related possibilities.”
“The creative endeavors of Sonja Thomsen and Adam Carr in ‘Listening to Mitchell’ is a perfect illustration of how listening — and providing an appropriate soundscape — is truly an art form, and how sound can provide a transformative experience,” shared Graeme Harrison, Executive Vice President of Marketing at Biamp Systems. “Arup is an exceptional resource and partner, with their understanding of how sound works within varied environments, and Biamp is excited to provide the processing and distribution of the audio portion of this immersive art installation.”
Biamp’s Tesira SERVER-IO offers the flexibility to have scalable DSP and I/O in the same device — allowing up to three DSP-2 cards, 12 I/O cards, as well as flexible AVB and/or CobraNet capabilities. The DSP also provides extensive audio processing including signal routing and mixing, equalization, filtering, dynamics, and delay as well as control, monitoring, and diagnostic tools via easy configuration through Biamp’s Tesira design software.
For more information on Arup, go to www.arup.com.
About the Artists
Sonja Thomsen (b. 1978) is a Milwaukee-based artist whose multifaceted practice includes sculpture, interactive installation, photography, and site-specific public art. Her projects make tangible, the experience of seeing and elusiveness of knowledge. Since earning an MFA in photography at the San Francisco Art Institute (2004), she has worked with the Reykjavik Museum of Photography, New Mexico Museum of Art, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Center for Photography at Woodstock, among others. In 2011 she was awarded the Mary L. Nohl Fellowship for Individual Artists. Thomsen’s work resides in the collections of the Milwaukee Art Museum, Reykjavik Museum of Photography and the Midwest Photographers Project at Museum of Contemporary Photography. She is a member of the international photography collective Piece of Cake and co-director of The Pitch Project gallery.
Adam Carr (b. 1984) is a Milwaukee-based media producer and cultural field worker. He graduated from Carleton College in 2007 with a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy. Between 2008 and 2011, he was producer at public radio station 88Nine RadioMilwaukee, creating nearly 1000 short-for radio stories on a wide variety of topics. Currently, he finds work at the intersection of community and communication with recent projects including work with the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, Milwaukee Art Museum, United Way, Reagan High School, LISC Milwaukee, Arts@Large, the Greater Milwaukee Committee, Plaid Tuba, Artists Working in Education, and the Zeidler Center for Public Discussion.
