Silo City serves as center stage again for what's being called a presentation of new experimental music and sound art. Following Thursday night's preview, "Decay/Reverberate: Site Specific Sound at Silo City" will run through Sunday.
After a year-and-a-half of planning, the curator of the project, Colin Tucker, says he has been able to gather a group of local, national and international artists who were able to fulfill his requirements which called for "music or sound art, improvised, notated, electronic—all of the above."
"I was looking for sound and some kind of site specificity, so not a piece that could be done anywhere, but a piece that took the acoustics, the history, the architecture of Silo City as kind of a starting point,” Tucker explained.
Having performed with his cello at previous events, Tucker understands the acoustic challenges presented by the massive structures at Silo City. That experience has been shared with the artists scheduled to perform this weekend.
“There’s been a lot of testing. Some artists have been visiting the site, even last summer. In some cases I’ve sent them information remotely, field recordings or specifications about reverberation time, the diameter of the silos, the history of the silos.”
More event information can be found here.
The weekend is being produced by Null Point, the experimental arts organization, curated by Colin Tucker. Tucker admits that local audiences have not entirely embraced prior local productions, including an ambitious series at the Wash Project on the west side. Nonetheless, this weekend's events are drawing considerable advance interest from those curious to encounter unique sounds and sites at Silo City, a location that is uniquely Buffalo.
“Many of the pieces will be in the ‘Marine A’ which is the really big reverberant silo that as you drive in it’s on the right," Tucker explained.
"There will be at least two pieces that are spread out around the site. The locations won’t actually be announced. You will to just walk around the site and discover them. Of course, we will tell you the location if you really want to know. But we sort of liked the idea of just strolling around the site and then just (wondering) ‘What’s that going on over there?’"
