Chicago Sound Canopy
Urban diffusion of Taipei Bird Market recordings

Sound Canopy was a public sound art project supporting site-specific audio work created to participate in the urban environment. Consisting of a 32 speaker sound system, the installation was built into a construction scaffold located at the corner of Adams and State Street in the Chicago Loop. Short audio pieces were contributed by various local artists and each piece was broadcast every day for a week.
My piece was featured in early 2004, and consisted of a manipulated loop from my Taipei Bird Market recordings. Since pedestrians would likely be within earshot for only a few moments at a time, I designed the loop to gradually shift in texture over the course of 2 minutes. While the sounds of the exotic birds are at first recognizable, they slowly evolve into a more mechanical and unfamiliar quality, blending in with the urban soundscape.
Sound Canopy images © Michael Burns