Electronic Frequencies

1/  Version I: Rainforest Version I. (1968)
2/  Version IV: Sliding Pitches in the Rainforest in the Field: Rainforest Version IV. (1973)
excerpt

In 1968, Tudor created a sound score for Merce Cunningham’s dance RainForest, which featured Andy Warhol’s Silver Clouds—mylar pillows filled with helium that floated around—as the set, and costumes by Jasper Johns. The title of RainForest came from Cunningham’s childhood memories of the Pacific Northwest’s lush Olympic National Forest. Tudor took this as a prompt, creating bird- and other animal-like sounds through custom objects, which he called “instrumental loudspeakers.” This first group included eight table-top-sized objects , that amplified and shaped sound just as traditional loudspeakers do.

In 1973 Tudor presented his RainForest score to a group of young artists and composers at the New Music in New Hampshire festival in Chocorua, NH. Working in a large barn, the participants experimented with larger objects, which were suspended in order to resonate freely. This first performance of Rainforest IV lasted six hours. The audience was encouraged to walk among the objects and take advantage of the spatial aspect of the work.

Rainforest IV has been shown in a variety of different spaces, from the initial presentation in a barn to university art galleries to more traditional black box theaters and even Pierre Cardin’s studio in Paris. In the display seen above, the objects are theatrically lit so their shadows add to the visual element of the installation.

Visitors to Rainforest IV were encouraged to touch the sculptures and press their ears against the objects to feel the sonic resonance. Standing inside the oil drum, an object added by artist Bill Viola to the first presentation in Chocorua, audience members could experience the deep, emanating bass.

Rainforest V (variation 1) became part of MoMA’s collection in 2015.

Text excerpt MoMA NYC.
Photography by ©1976 Ralph Jones
Binaural mix for this broadcast by Roland kuit

EAN 764593006428.