24 Jun 2011
Interactive, multi-media art installation opens for a year-long outdoor public exhibit at Fort Mason Center.
Arup’s San Francisco acoustic and lighting teams recently completed the installation of Sent Forth, a multimedia collaboration with Jefferson Mack Metal, which is now on display at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, CA. This installation is part of SEAT, a unique exhibition by 41 artists curated by Topher Delaney’s Seam Studio. Each artist was commissioned to build an expression of outdoor furniture which they have generously loaned to the Fort Mason Center.
Sent Forth is conceived as a time-travelling airship which has been collecting audio recordings of San Francisco across the centuries. Recently, the airship has become stuck at Fort Mason Center. As it attempts to revive itself, visitors will hear fragments of collected soundscapes revealing histories of the area, both composed by the malfunctioning ship and influenced by the surrounding environment.
The piece includes a unique ‘Solid-Drive’ sound system which relies on the shape and materiality of the artwork to re-produce a sonic composition written by Shane Myrbeck of Arup's San Francisco office. Site weather conditions will choreograph changes in light and sound. The design and fabrication of the piece is the work of Jefferson Mack, artist, blacksmith and master metalworker, who collaborated with Arup in development of the piece. Other support for Sent Forth was provided by BBI Engineering, SoundTube, Bruck Lighting, Van Bebber Bros, and Extron.
The installation will be on display at Fort Mason Center through July 2012.
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