Immersion Work Chosen for Whitney Biennial

16-Jan-02

Meredith Monkís ìEclipse Variations,î commissioned by Starkland for its Immersion surround sound DVD-Audio release, has been selected to be part of the Whitney Museumís 2002 Biennial Exhibition. Playback from the Immersion DVD will be heard in surround sound. Immersion is the first ever release of commissioned works by leading modern composers written especially for the emerging DVD-Audio medium.The Biennial, now regarded as the signature exhibition of New Yorkís Whitney Museum, has evolved into the premier showcase for the most important recent work made by American artists and is heralded for its artistic innovation.Commenting on the new DVD-Audio format, Monk say that ìin many of my pieces, I have worked with making a space ring or resound by placing singers in a ësurround soundí spatial relationship to the audience. Now I really appreciate that there is a playback medium which allows that visceral, rich perceptual experience to happen at home.îDebra Singer, an associate curator at the Whitney, chose the sound art. The exhibition includes the largest representation of sound art ever presented in the Biennial. Singer remarks: ìSound art in particular is an area that has grown exponentially over the past two years, which makes this the right moment to provide a significant place for it in the Biennial.î Sound pieces will be presented in a specially designed ìsurround soundî installation room, an environment for sound immersion. Lawrence Rinder, the Biennialís chief curator, comments: ìArtists are exploring a wide range of media and new technologies that are giving them previously unimagined freedoms.îRegarding ìEclipse Variationsî Monk writes: ìI was interested in the idea of a new sound being revealed when another one disappears,î further explaining that ìin surround sound, the piece becomes a suspended ring of sound, with the voices moving across the space, colliding, leaning, and creating beats in the air.î Monk is a MacArthur ìGeniusî award recipient who pioneered what is now called ìextended vocal techniqueî and ìinterdisciplinary performance.î A composer, singer, creator of new opera and music-theater works, films, and installations, she has created more than 150 works since 1964, and has made 12 recordings (mostly on ECM New Series).Starklandís groundbreaking Immersion has received major acclaim. ìBillboardî declared that Immersion has achieved ìa number of ëfirstsí in an exceptionally enjoyable program.î ìSound and Visionî gave Immersion one of its best DVD-Audio reviews so far, noting that this unprecedented recording is ìnot only a fascinating array of musical innovation but a persuasive exploration of the possibilities of surround sound.î Such recognition has led to Immersion usually being the #1 best-selling DVD-Audio at Amazon.com since August.While high quality surround sound can benefit all types of music, the potential for truly enveloping sound is especially relevant to todayís iconoclastic electroacoustic composers. The worldís leading surround authority, Tomlinson Holman, states that Immersion is a ìfascinating dicsî which shows these ìcomposers stretching the boundaries of recorded sound by exploring the new possibilities inherent in DVD-Audio.î

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