sound artist
The Collection Speaks
audio tour and curatorial installation for the 30th anniversary of the Berman Museum, Ursinus College
I was invited to create a project for the 30th anniversary of the Berman Museum. From the 8000 artworks and artifacts in the museum’s collection, I selected 30 pieces and developed an accompanying 25-minute audio walk.
Excerpt: The Collection Speaks audio tour
Albert Jean Adolphe, In the Shadow of the Tower, Oil on Canvas, 1896; Artist Palette, Oil on wood, date unknown
Sifting through the Berman's eclectic collection, I was drawn to everything from oil paintings, drawings and modernist sculpture to a Victorian bathing suit, a 14th century bronze hand of the Buddha and even a few hard boiled eggs decorated in the late 1700s. What, I wondered, might all these things say to us (and each other) when pulled from their quiet hibernation? They carry with them so many questions about our attempt to imagine a past and a future that inevitably eludes us.
Listen to more of The Collection Speaks here.
My thanks to Nancy Berman, Lisa Minardi, William Earle Williams and Deborah Barkun for lending their time and voices as I learned about the pieces I had selected. Special thanks to Berman Director Charlie Stainback for the invitation to explore each and every storage vault in the museum's collection.
Audio walk consulting: Juliet Hinely
Music direction: Andrew Bishop: music direction
Bass: Jacob Warren
Violin, nyckelharpa: Grant Flick
Music engineering: Jeremy Edwards