GeoPhonoBox Exhibition
Around the Coyote Gallery - gallery homepage and data sheet

"Around the Coyote is pleased to present GeoPhonoBox, an exhibit curated by Chicago based visual and sonic artist Zoe Asta and Associate Professor in the Department of Film, Peck School of the Arts, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Rob Danielson. This exhibition features sound recordings about “place” created by sound artists, nature recordists, ethnographers, composers, pedestrians, geographers and other practitioners from around the world. Each submission in the show is to represent one geographic place within the realm of a cardboard shipping box."

For this exhibition I decided to use location recordings I made in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina. Using segments from various spots around New Orleans of street entertainers, musicians, and incidental sounds, I created an hour long collage that plays back continuously. Since the recordings were made with a pair of binaural microphones, headphone listening is the ideal situation in which to recreate the sonic environment of the original locations.

At the opening reception which took place on Friday, March 2nd, I discovered an interesting occurence. Despite the fact that I had mailed my box only about 2 miles away from the gallery, Chicago Postal Service still managed to nearly demolish the box. It arrived at the gallery in one piece, but with numerous bruises and stickers indicating that it had been "received in damaged condition". Given that dozens of boxes were sent in from artists all over the world and that mine was the only project that related to an event of considerable destruction, I was slightly amused by this coincidence.