Tangible Sound: Immersions

• • 3ARTS MATCH
  • 179% contributed

Imagine being able to walk inside the thunderous sound of a taiko drum or feel enveloped by the sinuous sounds of a saxophone or cello or bass. What if your body became part of a visual mapping of colors and textures and movement that resonated with bone-tingling sound vibrating in your ears? With this Tangible Sound: Immersions project, I will be creating environments of moving sound pictures that reflect the energy, patterns, and colors of creative improvised music, with a goal of delivering a fully sensory, multimedia exhibition experience that connects, uplifts, and transforms our human spirit.  

About This Project

When I first encountered creative improvised music in my early twenties, I experienced it as an almost religious epiphany. The music spoke to me of freedom; a liberation theology that expressed the universal creative energy that empowered its makers and transformed its listeners as if we were all hearing a newly discovered truth; a “power stronger than itself.” I began to figure out a way to translate that power into visual equivalents through my camera, with the idea of conveying the enormity of the experience; the way it regularly shifted the earth from under my feet, and how it also shook up the way I thought about making photographs.

The advent of digital technology exponentially broadened the scale of possibilities. I was thrilled to discover ways of visually interpreting the sound itself, by moving my body and camera in response to the music, while leaving the camera shutter open to collect both the movement and light. When I showed this work to musicians they often commented that it looked like what they saw in their minds when they were playing—suggesting that I had indeed found a successful conduit to their creativity.

I exhibited some large pieces of this new work in a small gallery space in Poland. Walking into the room I felt enveloped by the bright energy and textures of sound leaping off the walls. It was at that moment I knew I wanted to create a way to feel as if you were inside the music itself. I soon realized that animating these images would provide an even more dynamic way of visually experiencing sound. Now I am eager to project images as big as a room or even an entire building to convey the transformational experience of a power stronger than itself. 

I am also excited to be collaborating with other artists for the first time to realize my vision: L. Koo, whose practice draws primarily on photographic methods as well as elements of sculpture, video, and sound, and Kioto Aoki, an analog photographer and experimental filmmaker who explores different modes of perception are assisting me in tech design, image curation, and animation.

The first Tangible Sound installation will take place in Winter 2023 or early Spring 2024 at Asian Improv aRts Midwest’s new Cultural Hub on the north side of Chicago. It will include live performances by collaborators and others to be announced. This first installation connects Japanese traditional and contemporary artistry to the larger scope of jazz in Chicago.  

3AP funding for this project will support compensation for my collaborators and the performing artists and also the material costs of the projection technology. But most importantly, your generous donation will open new doors to transform the human spirit! 

Thank yous

Contribute any amount or choose from the levels below.

• $25
  Special thanks on social media and signed Tangible Sound notecard ($23.00 is tax deductible.)
• $50
  A set of 5 Tangible Sound notecards printed by Lauren, plus thanks on social media. ($40.00 is tax deductible.)
• $150
  An 8x10 signed Tangible Sound print, your name acknowledged in the exhibition program, and special thanks on social media. ($100.00 is tax deductible.)
• $250
  A signed 10x 12 Tangible Sound print, your name acknowledged in the exhibition program, and special thanks on social media. ($200.00 is tax deductible.)
• $350
  Tangible Sound signed hard cover book, acknowledgement in program, and special thanks on social media. ($320.00 is tax deductible.)
• $500
  A signed, unframed 11x14 Tangible Sound print, signed hard cover book, your name acknowledged in the program, and special thanks on social media. ($420.00 is tax deductible.)
• $1000
  Invitation to a private walk-through of the exhibition, plus everything at the $500 level. ($920.00 is tax deductible.)

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Lauren Deutsch

Make a Wave Artist

Lauren was born in Chicago in 1956 and raised on Chicago’s south side. She ended her formal training in the mid 70s and became an autodidact, beginning a body of work investigating creative improvised music and documenting its community of …

View Lauren Deutsch's profile

• 2 updates
• 57 supporters

• Update 1: Exhibition Dates and New Collaborators

  Posted on January 25, 2024

  

   

  Winter Solstice Concert

  Dear Beloved Supporters,

  I know it's been awhile since I have communicated with you, but now I have some important news to share:

  Firstly, the date for the exhibition has been confirmed for Thursday and Friday 5/9 and 5/10 2024 at AIRMW Cultural Hub, 4875 N. Elston Ave, Chicago 60630.

  Times are TBD at this moment, but please mark your calendars now, as I am hoping to see all of you there!

  I have added two more collaborators to my project, Afrofuturist filmmaker Jonathan Woods who is curating and animating images for the show and Honduran artist and sculptor Josue Esau who is building the set.

  I'm excited to tell you that the work in the show will be primarily new work, mostly created within the past year, and some within the past few months!

  It has been a long path to get here, to this place where I am able to focus all of my energy on art-making, and it feels like I have finally come home, thanks to all of you.

  About those thank you gifts...

  I have reached out to some of you for mailing addresses as I intend to send things out to you next month, thank you so much for your patience!

  In Gratitude,

  Lauren

   

   

  Update 2: Tangible Sound Exhibition

  Posted on June 15, 2024

  

   

  Tsukasa Taiko-Miyumi Project Sequence

  Hello my Beloved Supporters,

  Tangible Sound: A Visual Celebration of Creative Improvised Music was a resounding success, and I am eternally grateful to each one of you for helping to make it possible.

  Over 100 people attended over the two days of the immersive exhibition; many reporting an out-of-body experience that heighted their sense of being connected to the universal creative force. 

  The live improvisation by Edward Wilkerson and Tatsu Aoki provided waves of ambient sound that alternately calmed and stirred, surprising us in its seamless collbaoration with the music in the images.

  Because I know that many of you were unable to make it, I'm including this video of the Sun Ra sequence so you can get an idea of what the experience looked like.

  It was an immersive experience for me as well, as my work transformed in ways I had not realized were possible. I am excited to continue to evolve this approach and am looking forward to seeing what will transpire.

  I also wanted to thank you for your patience with me in fulfilling the thank-you gifts that went along with your donations.  I sent out an initial batch a few months ago and the rest I sent out yesterday. 

  Many thanks once again!

  Lauren

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

• Thank you to the following for contributing to 3Arts with the recommendation that we support this project.

  • Peter Kostakis

  • Susan Gzesh

  • Karen Risinger

  • Dan Melnick

  • Brian Myerholtz

  • Anonymous Supporter

  • Dayna CALDERON

  • Ben Deutsch

  • ROSE ROGERS

  • Carlos Flores

  • Jack Swenson

  • Anonymous Supporter

  • Mike Reed

  • Hrayr Attarian

  • marilyn katz

  • Victor Garcia

  • Jonah Parzen-Johnson

  • Rose Parisi

  • Michelle Boone

  • Jessica Zakula

  • Krista Bryski Richard

  • marc goldin

  • Nena Adams

  • lawrence rocke

  • Cynthia Bittenfield

  • Birdie Soti

  • Barb Netter

  • Ruth Valenzuela

  • Nicki Snoblin

  • Stephen Carrig

  • Joanie Pallatto

  • Lisa Sondin

  • Christy Uchida

  • Dianna Frid

  • Kia Smith

  • Elena Petrovich

  • Tomeka Reid

  • Cheryl Yuen

  • Jerry Robinson

  • Kalyan Pathak

  • Kalyan Pathak

  • Jean Parisi

  • Jim Quinn

  • Chuck Nessa

  • Joel Deutsch

  • Dan Epstein

  • Joyce Bolinger

  • Kate Dumbleton

  • Marla Deutsch

  • Louis Hoffman

  • MARK INGRAM

  • Candace Hunter

  • Joanne Vena

  • Allison Blakley

  • Ivan Handler

  • Catherine DeJongArtman

  • Terry Whitebook

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