Acclaimed experimental composer, Olivia Block, utilizes Harry Bertoia’s sounding sculptures to create new sound installation for the Nasher
DALLAS, Texas (November 15, 2021)—The Nasher Sculpture Center announces Sightings: Olivia Block, a newly commissioned work by renowned American media artist and composer Olivia Block, on view January 29, 2022 - April 24, 2022. In complement to the Harry Bertoia retrospective, Harry Bertoia: Sculpting Mid-Century Modern Life, Block’s sound installation is comprised from recordings of Harry Bertoia’s sounding sculptures, which are part the exhibition.
“We are delighted to present Olivia Block’s new sound installation in tandem with our Harry Bertoia exhibition,” says Director Jeremy Strick, “as it underscores the broad musical influence of Bertoia on younger generations of artists, and highlights this talented composer’s contributions to the field of sound art.”
Block’s recent work reflects her interest in time, wind, shadows, and the acoustic properties of physical materials like metal and wood. The new installation, titled The Speed of Sound in Infinite Copper, will highlight the sounding sculptures’ ability to create a palpable sonic space while allowing the audience to activate the sonic experience by moving about the room. Block complements the changing aural environment projecting the silhouettes of the movement of the sounding sculptures across the floor and up the walls of the Corner Gallery at the Nasher. This will be the second work using Bertoia’s sounding sculptures for the Chicago-based Block—the first, Sonambient Pavilion, was performed in Chicago’s Pritzker Pavilion in 2015—and a homecoming for the Dallas native.
About Olivia Block
Over the past thirty years, Block has forged an influential career in experimental music and sound installation. In addition to a discography of over twenty solo and collaborative recordings, Block has performed and exhibited around the world including installations and premieres in Europe, North America, and Asia at venues such as the Institute of Contemporary Art, London, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, and La Biennale di Venezia 52nd International Festival of Contemporary Music.