Bill and Mary Buchen

Sound Observatory (three drum seats, earth drum and parabolic reflector), is an ongoing project at Socrates. The work is designed to exchange sonic energy between people and place. It is an empty vessel, not truly fulfilled unless there are people within, exploring and playing. Seats serve as drums, the earth is a resonator and a parabolic dish reflects and beams sound around the site to the river. Future components will draw from the world’s instruments, the park’s inspiration and the people that use the site.

Socrates Sculpture Park is a laboratory. It is an experiment of the human spirit, a sharing of the communal love of aart and land that binds people to place. What you hear is what you get.

This project is supported in part by the generous grants from: Art Matters, the David Bermant Foundation: Color, Light Motion, The National Endowment for the Arts (InterArts), The New York Sate council on the Arts (Visual Arts).

“Wind Antenna” uses mast and parabolic dish to transform wind energy into soundwaves; reflecting sailboats on the East River, converting wind power into movement. Vibrating strings create music of shimmering harmonics, sending waves over the large open expanse of the park and river. Socrates Sculpture Park itself was charged with the energies of the people who transformed a rubbled lot into a place where art can involve a community.