Conversation Pieces (Furniture Music)
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A landmark new creation by Livingston Sound, putting the listener in direct contact with the music, which radiates through the surface of the chair for the ultimate in sonic tactility. In April 2016, we will release a limited edition of 12 chairs with original music, drawn in the composer's hand on the surface of the chair. Prototypes are shown here. On View: To experience the chairs, please visit our installations: On the east coast: Washington DC, at the historic Dumbarton Oaks Gardens, 2-6pm except Mondays, through 2017 Sonoma County: Healdsburg CA, sonogarden at the Duchamp Hotel (behind SHED), 10-8pm daily starting May 14 Sonoma County: Sonoma, CA, Potter Green at Cornerstone Gardens, 10-5 daily. Napa County: Rutherford, CA, at St. Supery Winery, 10-5pm daily through April 30. EXTENDED TO JUNE 15! Curated by Topher Delaney in conjunction with Arts in April Napa Valley. Contra Costa County: Walnut Creek, CA at the Ruth Bancroft Garden, Jun 17-Jul 17. Peninsula: Burlingame, CA at Kohl Mansion, in association with Music at Kohl Mansion, beginning September 2016. San Diego: by appointment only |
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Sound Samples
Edition Details
"No matter if it is night or in the rain, a chair invites guests."
A landmark new creation by Livingston Sound, putting the listener in direct contact with the music, which radiates through the surface of the chair for the ultimate in sonic tactility. In April 2016, we are proud to release a limited edition of 12 chairs with original music, which will be drawn in the composer's hand on the surface of the chair. Each is an original artwork, and contains the original musical score.
The Conversation Pieces present the unusual experience of feeling the cello’s fundamental resonances, radiating through the chair into the body.
These custom-made sonic chairs by Livingston Sound have transducers that radiate sound through the sitter's spine, making for the ultimate in immersive experience. The idea was first developed as an attempt to connect an audience with the tactile essence of playing the cello, conveying the immediacy of the vibrations felt by the performer.
Livingston Sound is excited to announce our first new collectible sonic experience for 2016, the culmination of ten years of experimentation and development. The Conversation Pieces are beautiful Italian chairs that radiate sound through your body. Each has a hand-drawn musical score, making it a complete instantiation of the musical process: sit in the chair, hear the sound, feel the sound, read the composition. The chair is used as a canvas for the notation, and is also a speaker, so each of twelve collectors in this limited edition will consequently own the original score, a 12-hour recording of the solo cello music, and the audio system, created specifically to be experienced in this way, and not through a conventional musical playback system. All of the music was composed and recorded on a 1928 Fagnola cello from Montiglio by Hugh Livingston.
The first four in the Conversation Pieces edition will be offered at an introductory price, with price rising for the remainder of this limited edition. Beginning in summer 2016, my work will be represented by a gallery in Los Angeles, and the chairs will only be offered in sets of four, at a higher price.
The chairs are a beautiful indoor/outdoor chair design from S.C.A.B. Design in Milan, and are imported from Italy before being outfitted with the sound system and handpainted with the musical score. They are lightweight, as they are rotomolded as a hollow shell, and made of high-density polyethylene and thus impact resistant and sturdy for everyday use. The electronics are invisible and require no interaction or set up. Simply plug the chair in to experience. There is a 16-foot power cord with a discreet wall transformer for maximum flexibility. Each chair has a unique rendering of the musical composition, 12 hours long. When started and stopped it will resume where it left off, and there is also a remote control to move through the programs and adjust the volume.
The six musical gestures notated on the surface of the chair are short themes. Each one is taken in turn and twelve variations are produced, and then further varied through many different keys. Finally, these source materials are mixed together to create a 12-hour composition with a varying trajectory of energy. The music is in turns wistful, distant, rumbling, nostalgic, echoing, ambling, meditative. It is meant to alternate between foreground and background, and references the conception of Erik Satie’s Furniture Music. There is no substitute for the experience of the tactility of this music, as feeling the bass vibrating in your back puts you in touch with the sensations I have when holding the cello and performing. And if you buy two or more, one can experience the social counterpoint on which chamber music is built in an entirely new way.
Please inquire about custom composition or site-specific installations for the Conversation Pieces.
A landmark new creation by Livingston Sound, putting the listener in direct contact with the music, which radiates through the surface of the chair for the ultimate in sonic tactility. In April 2016, we are proud to release a limited edition of 12 chairs with original music, which will be drawn in the composer's hand on the surface of the chair. Each is an original artwork, and contains the original musical score.
The Conversation Pieces present the unusual experience of feeling the cello’s fundamental resonances, radiating through the chair into the body.
These custom-made sonic chairs by Livingston Sound have transducers that radiate sound through the sitter's spine, making for the ultimate in immersive experience. The idea was first developed as an attempt to connect an audience with the tactile essence of playing the cello, conveying the immediacy of the vibrations felt by the performer.
Livingston Sound is excited to announce our first new collectible sonic experience for 2016, the culmination of ten years of experimentation and development. The Conversation Pieces are beautiful Italian chairs that radiate sound through your body. Each has a hand-drawn musical score, making it a complete instantiation of the musical process: sit in the chair, hear the sound, feel the sound, read the composition. The chair is used as a canvas for the notation, and is also a speaker, so each of twelve collectors in this limited edition will consequently own the original score, a 12-hour recording of the solo cello music, and the audio system, created specifically to be experienced in this way, and not through a conventional musical playback system. All of the music was composed and recorded on a 1928 Fagnola cello from Montiglio by Hugh Livingston.
The first four in the Conversation Pieces edition will be offered at an introductory price, with price rising for the remainder of this limited edition. Beginning in summer 2016, my work will be represented by a gallery in Los Angeles, and the chairs will only be offered in sets of four, at a higher price.
The chairs are a beautiful indoor/outdoor chair design from S.C.A.B. Design in Milan, and are imported from Italy before being outfitted with the sound system and handpainted with the musical score. They are lightweight, as they are rotomolded as a hollow shell, and made of high-density polyethylene and thus impact resistant and sturdy for everyday use. The electronics are invisible and require no interaction or set up. Simply plug the chair in to experience. There is a 16-foot power cord with a discreet wall transformer for maximum flexibility. Each chair has a unique rendering of the musical composition, 12 hours long. When started and stopped it will resume where it left off, and there is also a remote control to move through the programs and adjust the volume.
The six musical gestures notated on the surface of the chair are short themes. Each one is taken in turn and twelve variations are produced, and then further varied through many different keys. Finally, these source materials are mixed together to create a 12-hour composition with a varying trajectory of energy. The music is in turns wistful, distant, rumbling, nostalgic, echoing, ambling, meditative. It is meant to alternate between foreground and background, and references the conception of Erik Satie’s Furniture Music. There is no substitute for the experience of the tactility of this music, as feeling the bass vibrating in your back puts you in touch with the sensations I have when holding the cello and performing. And if you buy two or more, one can experience the social counterpoint on which chamber music is built in an entirely new way.
Please inquire about custom composition or site-specific installations for the Conversation Pieces.
Contrapuntal Benches
Installed in the front courtyard of the Conrad Prebys Music Center at the University of California, San Diego on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Music Department, Sonic Diasporas, January 2011.
Nice little feature video newly made by the Dumbarton Oaks staff describing the art in the gardens program.
