Terpsichore for Kansas City

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Title: Terpsichore for Kansas City
Photo Credit: Mags Harries and Lajos HĂ©der
Lead Artist(s):

Contributing Artist(s):
Lajos HĂ©der
http://www.harriesheder.com/

Description:

Terpsichore for Kansas City transforms the parking garage of the new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts into a musical instrument with light and sound, a complementary venue to the performances at the center. Our artwork extends throughout the entire space of this thousand car, four-story garage, which serves Kansas City's Arts District. In Greek mythology Terpsichore was the Muse of Dance and the Chorus. The central feature of our Terpsichore is The Light Organ, a vertical sculpture of light tubes, penetrating through the 4-story stairwell of the garage. Programmable LED's within The Light Organ’s pipes produce white and blue light to create compositional patterns in different rhythms and intensities. These patterns were composed like another instrument playing with the sound compositions in the stairwell. Sound from 108 speakers, activated by motion sensors, plays moving through the garage for people to experience as they walk through space, making it seem like the garage itself is making the music. Composers David Moulton, Roberta Vacca, and Kansas City's own Bobby Watson were commissioned to create the sound works for this project. We are currently working to establish a program with the city and the Kauffman Center to commission composers to create new pieces and build up a library of compositions for the garage.

PROJECT LOCATION

Parking Garage
Arts District Parking Garage
Arts District Parking Garage
300 West 17th Street
Kansas City, MO 64108
United States

click the map to enlarge
PROJECT TEAM

Kansas City Municipal Art Commission
Municipal Art Commission
Moulton Labs, unknown
David Moulton, Matt Harter
PROJECT DETAILS

Permanent
$470,000
Percent-for-Art
Sculpture, Sound
LED, Metal, Sound
Light, sound, electronics, steel, polycarbonate
2011
2012