ENGAGING SPACE / LIRIODENDRON TEMPORARY PUBLIC ART INSTALLATION, 2016
Visual Art by Mark Gerard McKee, Music by Butch Rovan
Engaging Space -/ Liriodendron, installation, Variable dimensions
An installation comprising multiple ranks of semi-transparent plastic of light weight and thickness together with an 8-channel interactive sound environment. The physical dimensions of the overall installation — which extends to fill the length and width of the gallery — defines the space both visually and sonically, as the installation interacts with viewers, environmental conditions, and the vicissitudes of light and air currents.
The dimensions and configuration of the individual plastic sheets invite multiple interpretations. They are flag-like, yet in the absence of identifying marking or color they suggest a transcendence of nationalism towards a common unifying human identity. They are also like the sails of ships, subject to ambient light and air currents that cause them to move like rippling water.
The 8-channel interactive sound generates an immersive environment based on recordings from the Connecticut College Arboretum. The arboretum features a stand of ancient Liriodendron trees, astonishing for both their height and graceful elegance, as well as for their similarity to the gently swaying forms of the installation’s rippling sheets. By moving through the space, participants are able to “play” the sound of the installation. Engaging Space / Liriodendron reacts to their movement by offering up a series of high rhythmic melodies, like the tree’s high canopy, that rise to the building’s upper reaches.
THE PROCESS
Mark Gerard McKee 