WALLS

“Walls” is an interactive, audiovisual installation that reimagines Constantine P. Cavafy's poem of the same title as an immersive, experimental Hip Hop experience. In this installation, participants must work together to solve an interactive rhythm poem.

By activating a sequence of beats, rhythms, and stanzas that combine key elements of Cavafy’s original poem, participants transform the installation into a wholly unique and expansive fractal world. New York Emcee ELUCID lends his distinctive voice to Cavafy’s original text, and engages the Greek poet in a call-and-response across time.

Credits:

Ali Santana - Director & Lead Artist
Matt McCorkle - Sound Artist & Lead Collaborator
Jazia Hammoudi - Producer
Ariel Nevarez - Experiential Interface Designer
ELUCID - Emcee
Yuan Peng - Creative Technologist & Immersive Game Design Partner
Kate Stevenson - Creative Technologist & Immersive Game Design Partner

IKHET (Sound Pyramid)

“Ikhet”, which translates to ‘Glorious Light,’ is the Ancient Egyptian name for the Great Pyramid of Giza. The pyramid, originally coated in smooth, polished white limestone, is said to have reflected the sun’s rays so brightly that it was a beacon of inspiration and awe from miles away. 

This installation inspired by the ‘Glorious Light’ integrates a multi-channel sound collage with audio-reactive LEDs to create an experience that engages viewers via light, spatial sound, and haptic feedback (vibration). The dynamic lighting which changes color and pattern in sync with the experimental sound piece, immerses the audience in a multi-sensory experience that they will see, hear and feel.

Field recordings made between 2019 and 2022 along with experimentations in analog audio synthesis and hardware samplers were combined to create textures, noise, beats, and tones that reflect the artist's personal feelings of resilience, anxiety, grief, and frustration, during a period of unprecedented change. 

Provided diffraction glasses offer an enhanced kaleidoscopic effect for the participant - similar to a prism, splitting light into its component colors. When the viewer moves their head to the beat, they encounter a low-tech interactive experience with the artwork.

Concept/Sound Design/Lights/: Ali Santana

Fabrication: POPKRAFT

DRIVE-THRU: Community: Rhythm / Movement / Joy (2022)

Community: Rhythm / Movement / Joy (2022): Filmed on Lafayette Ave in 2012, this scene captures the rhythm, movement, joy and community tradition of BAM’s Dance Africa Street Bazaar.

Drive-Thru is the second major work of public art to be unveiled at The Plaza at 300 Ashland. Inspired by the classic drive-in movie experience, Drive-Thru comprises a reconfigurable outdoor theater that incorporates light through rear projection, serving as an outdoor cinema visible from the highly utilized intersection of Flatbush and Lafayette Avenues. Selected for the energy it will bring to one of Downtown Brooklyn’s most prominent open spaces during winter, Drive-Thru will showcase film and video by eight Brooklyn-based artists and filmmakers that highlight Brooklyn communities, explore themes of urban life, and connect to Black History Month and Women’s History Month.