Requiem: A White Wanderer, Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Chicago, IL February 2020
Requiem: A White Wanderer is an ongoing investigation into the rapid disintegration of the Antarctic ice shelf. Inspired by Larsen-C, a 120-mile long crack along the Antarctic ice shelf that broke into a trillion-ton iceberg in 2017, White Wanderer translates seismic data from an ailing iceberg, connecting this remote place to an emotional artistic experience to deepen public understanding of the connection between climate change and sea level rise. Consisting of two interrelated components, a musical performance developed in collaboration with Katherine Young, and an immersive sound installation amplified from the latticed Jay Pritzker Pavilion sound system. From the great lawn of Millennium park, audiences experienced a sound score similar to the way aquatic animals, like whales, might experience a calving iceberg, with the sounds of its disintegration reverberating throughout the ocean.
- Composition
- Katherine Young
- Musicians
- MYRA HINRICHS (violin); MIN PARK (violin); ALEXANDER ELLSWORTH (cello); LIA KOHL (cello) ; ANTON HATWICH (bass); JENNA LYLE (vocals); RYAN PACKARD (percussion).
- Video Documentation
- David Sampson
- Project Identity
- Normal
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to all the partners and contributors; ESS and their Outer Ear Residency program which allowed us to develop and experiment for more than a year; NRDC for continued support of the project; and the Millennium Park Foundation.
Project Partner Douglas R. MacAyeal A leading expert in glaciology who uses tools of fluid dynamics, seismology, remote sensing, and computational methods to study the behavior of the large ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland. MacAyeal recorded the seismic data that forms the foundation of the White Wanderer project.
Production Partners
THE NATURAL RESOURCE DEFENSE COUNCIL (NRDC) works to safeguard the Earth – its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. At the core of its mission is a simple idea: a healthy environment should be a basic right for all of us— regardless of where we live or what we look like. NRDC creates solutions for lasting environmental change by combining the power of more than 3 million members and online activists with the expertise of over 600 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates. The organization engages in a variety of arts and cultural partnerships to engage the public on critical environmental issues. To learn more about how NRDC is tackling the climate crisis, visit www.nrdc.org/climate or contact NRDC at nrdcinfo@nrdc.org.
EXPERIMENTAL SOUND STUDIO (ESS) is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization dedicated to artistic evolution and the creative exploration of sound through production, presentation, education, and preservation.
MILLENNIUM PARK FOUNDATION a nonprofit organization dedicated to the stewardship and curation of Millennium Park, maintaining it as a free and diverse public space that has come to represent the cultural heart of Chicago. Requiem: White Wanderer is presented by the Millennium Park Foundation in collaboration with the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events as part of the Year of Chicago Music.
This project is partially supported by an Individual Artists Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, as well as a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, as state agency, through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. It is partially supported by an IAS artist project grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and made possible with contributions from 3Arts and individual donors as part of a 3AP (3Arts Projects) campaign. 3AP Individual Donors: Paul Coffey, David Drexler, Joanne Gross, Nancy Juda, Eric Kerns, Rachel Kraft , John McGrath, Leigh Munoz, Joseph Scheer, Daniel Sullivan.
Special Thanks: Alison Banwell, Elaine Hood and the Polar Services of the US Antarctic Program, The National Science Foundation