Entry is a permanent commission of the Nicholson Project, an artist residency program and community garden in a rowhouse in the Anacostia Neighborhood of Washington DC . The entry hallway is marked by a banister that takes a wild turn at the first floor ceiling and contorts into a sculptural knot, before it continues on its way to the second floor. When standing below the sculptural knot, visitors discover that a sound experience is hidden within the architecture.
Heather engaged local youth from the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum’s ARTLAB to collaborate on the sound experience. The youth created powerful original compositions about the challenges of growing up in Washington DC, and then overlaid sounds recorded in the Nicholson neighborhood (children playing, a basketball bouncing, subway passing, etc . Visitors hear ARTLAB’s recordings when they stand under the sculptural knot. The circle is a speaker, which can only be heard if standing directly under the sculptural knot.
Audio credits: The Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum’s ARTLAB, Recording Artists (Sacred Porter, Bernard Myers, Dantrell Dean, and Sellano Simmons); Soundscape Recorder (Chris Plummer)
medium: audio speaker, polyurethane, resin, paint dimensions: 27” wide x 5’ tall x 6’ deep
commissioning entity: Nicholson Project, DASH
ARTLAB youth composed original songs and spoken word that can be heard in Entry’s hidden speaker.
