Seth Cluett:: Doleros (audio tourism at ringing rocks) :: MAY 10, 17, 24, 31 Saturdays 2-8 PM :: Opening Reception: MAY 10, 6-8 PM :: Free :: Diapason gallery for sound and intermedia :: 882 Third Avenue (between 32nd and 33rd Street), Brooklyn, NY 11232 :: subway: D, M, N, R to 36th St/4th Avenue :: 718.499.5070 ::

Ringing Rocks Park, PA

Doleros is an 8-channel surround sound installation that reconstructs the experience of audio tourism at Ringing Rocks Park, a popular boulder field in rural Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Featuring the largest diabase (dolerite) deposit in North America, Ringing Rocks Park offers visitors the opportunity to explore the sonic qualities of the geologic detritus, which produces different ringing qualities when struck. Visitors wander among these boulders and igneous rocks with hammers as they seek out the best sounding and compare and share their discoveries. Unlike other sites of audio-tourism – the Echo Canyon in Utah, the Ear of Dionysus Cave in Sicily, or the “stalacpipe” organ in the Luray Cavern, Virginia – the exploration of the diabase deposits is a collective sound-making activity.

The audio installation at Diapason echoes the experience at Ringing Rocks Park; the surround sound consists of layered field recordings that recreate the actual physical space, and small metal constructions dispersed throughout the room represent and acknowledge the uniqueness of the rocks’ sounds by resonating independently through individually wired speakers. The result is as much an engulfing and cinematic auditory experience as a lively and playful exploration of sound. In addition to his exhibition at Diapason, Cluett will be leading an outing to Ringing Rocks as part of the 2008 Movement Research Festival. More information at: http://www.movementresearch.org

Seth Cluett (b. 1976, Troy, NY) is a composer and visual artist whose work includes photography, drawing, video, sound installation, concert music, performance, and theoretical writing. His pieces are an exploration of the role of sound in everyday life. Operating at the boundary between the auditory and the other senses, his work engages sound’s ability to be both collectively shared and distinctly personal. Many of his pieces investigate the acoustic signature of specific locations, in which sound is experienced as an activity (audio tourism) or as a geologic process.
Seth’s work has been shown/performed at the 10th Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin, Palais de Tokyo Museum, Théatre sur le Pavé, and GRM in Paris; the ICA, Mobius Artist Space, MassArt/nonpod in Boston; WPS1/MoMA, Issue Project Room, The Kitchen, Diapason, Engine 27, Tonic, and The Knitting Factory in New York; the Betty Rymer Gallery at the Art Institute of Chicago, Elastic Arts, Heaven, Artemisia, and Deadtech Galleries in Chicago; as well as the Deep Listening Space in Kingston, NY amongst others. His work is documented on Errant Bodies Press, Sedimental, Crank Satori, BoxMedia, and Wavelet Records. He has published articles for The Open Space Magazine, Leonardo Music Journal, 306090, Earshot, and the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. For more information see http://www.onelonelypixel.org

Diapason gallery for sound and intermedia is a non-profit performance and exhibition space that invites the public, artists and composers to engage with contemporary music and sound practices. Established in 2001 by composer Michael J. Schumacher, Diapason has built on his efforts at Studio Five Beekman, a sound gallery he founded in1996. With two high-quality multichannel sound systems Diapason’s listening environment draws a regular audience, and Diapason continues to be the sole venue in New York City (and one of few internationally) that is dedicated to both presenting multichannel sound installations and providing space for composers and sound artists to experiment, exhibit and perform.