Bill Fontana Sonic Mappings

dimensione ambiente/dimensions variable

An American composer and artist, Bill Fontana deepened his studies in music and philosophy through travels in the United States, Australia, Japan, and Europe. He began creating sound sculptures in 1976. His work is based on the conviction that sound can modify and describe space, and his sound installations are able to transform even the most powerfully defined settings and architectural spaces. Commissioned and produced by MAXXI, "Sonic Mappings" – created by the artist for the exhibition “Open Museum Open City” – is a sound installation that, establishing a strong relationship between the architecture of the museum and the city of Rome, involves the spaces of the entrance hall. As in many of his previous works, Fontana decided to create a work that uses the sound of water, in this case inspired by the ancient Roman aqueducts that still flow today under the city streets, like the Acqua Vergine, the most famous one and the acoustic heart of ancient and contemporary Rome. Founded in 19 BC, the Acqua Vergine aqueduct starts from the east of the city and feeds some of the fountains in the historical center, including the Trevi Fountain. "Sonic Mappings" is a sound environment that, thanks to the artist’s recordings, captures and amplifies the acoustic, harmonic, and rhythmic characteristics of the moving water and its resonance in contact with tunnels, pipes, and stone.

No

J. Rudi, “From a Musical Point of View, the World is Musical at any Given Moment”, interview with Bill Fontana, Journal of Organized Sound, 10, 2, 2005. B. Fontana, “The Relocation of Ambient Sound”, Leonardo, 20, 2, 1987, republished in 41, 2, 2008. H. Hanru (ed.), Open Museum Open City, exhibition catalogue (MAXXI-Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo), Milan 2014.

Foto Bill Fontana

Donation by the artist

Installation