SALEM, MA – Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain and the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) present a musical performance celebrating the final weeks of The Great Animal Orchestra, a collaboration between musician and soundscape ecologist Bernie Krause and United Visual Artists. On July 1, experimental and ambient sound musician Ana Roxanne will debut a new composition commissioned by Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain and inspired by the exhibition. The performance, which will take place in PEM’s East India Marine Hall, incorporates Krause’s recordings of animals and natural environments, offering a new experience of his groundbreaking material.
Ana Roxanne works at the intersection of electric meditation, dream pop and ambient songcraft. Her inspirations span the secular (R&B divas of 1980s and ‘90s) and the spiritual (Catholic choral traditions in which she was raised), synthesized into a uniquely intuitive sonic language that feels equal parts atmospheric and ancient, healing and hermetic. Roxanne has developed a passionate following for her soundscapes and musical environments.
For the commission, Roxanne worked closely with Krause to compose a four-piece suite, with each piece dedicated to one of the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. The suite is a meditation on interconnectedness, subtle and grand beauty, and the flow of life and the cycle of death, through instruments including keyboards, voice, guitar and bass. Excerpts from Bernie Krause’s soundscape recordings are layered with these, including, “Amazon Days, Amazon Nights” and “Costa Rica Hidden Treasures” (representing earth); “Prairie Winds” (representing air); “Distant Thunder” (representing fire); and “Ocean Wonders + Ocean Dreams” (representing water). Additionally, Roxanne has provided her own field recordings and poetry to supplement and highlight each of the four natural elements.
EVENT DETAILS
Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain and PEM present: Ana Roxanne in Concert
July 1, 2022, 7:15 – 8 pm
East India Marine Hall, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
Free admission
ABOUT ANA ROXANNE
Ana Roxanne is a musician born and raised in the Bay Area. Her self-released EP was later reissued by Leaving Records before signing with Kranky for her official full-length debut, 2020's Because Of A Flower. Working at the intersection of electric meditation, dream pop and ambient songcraft, her inspirations span the secular (R&B divas of 1980s and ‘90s) and the spiritual (Catholic choral traditions in which she was raised), synthesized into a uniquely intuitive sonic language, equal parts atmospheric and ancient, healing and hermetic.
ABOUT BERNIE KRAUSE
Since 1968, Bernie Krause has traveled the world recording and archiving the sounds of creatures and environments large and small. Working at the research sites of Jane Goodall (Gombe, Tanzania), Biruté Galdikas (Camp Leakey, Borneo), and Dian Fossey (Karisoke, Rwanda), he identified the concept of biophony based on the relationships of individual creatures to the total biological soundscape as each establishes frequency and/or temporal bandwidth within a given habitat. His contributions helped establish the foundation of a new bioacoustic discipline: soundscape ecology. Krause has produced over 50 natural soundscape albums in addition to the design of interactive, non-redundant environmental sound sculptures for museums and other public spaces throughout the world. His installations can be experienced at the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC), the California Academy of Sciences (San Francisco), the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Chicago Science Museum, the American Museum of Natural History (New York City), five special commissions at the World Financial Center (New York City) and more than 30 other venues across North America and Europe.
EXHIBITION CREDIT
The Great Animal Orchestra, a collaboration between Bernie Krause and United Visual Artists, was commissioned in 2016 by the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, and is now part of its permanent collection. The exhibition is organized by the Peabody Essex Museum and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain.
The exhibition is presented as part of PEM’s Climate + Environment Initiative and is made possible by a generous gift from the Creighton family and the Albert M. Creighton III Fund for Art and Nature. Additional support was provided by Peter and Sandra Lawrence and individuals who support the Exhibition Incubation Fund: Jennifer and Andrew Borggaard, James B. and Mary Lou Hawkes, Kate and Ford O'Neil, and Henry and Callie Brauer. We also recognize the generosity of the East India Marine Associates of the Peabody Essex Museum.
Media Partners
PHOTO CREDIT
Image courtesy of the musician. Photo by Rich Lomibao.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Share your impressions on social media using #TheGreatAnimalOrchestra and #PEMClimate
ABOUT FONDATION CARTIER POUR L’ART CONTEMPORAIN
The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain is a private cultural institution whose mission is to promote all fields of contemporary artistic creation to the international public through a program of contemporary exhibitions, live performances and lectures. Created in 1984 by the Maison Cartier, the historic institution is located in Paris in a building designed by the architect Jean Nouvel. Fostering surprising and unexpected encounters between artists, scientists, philosophers, musicians and architects from around the world, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain has over the years developed a program of distinctive contemporary art exhibitions on subjects ranging from science to cinema, dance to design, and has built a unique collection that brings together more than 2,000 works by 500 artists of 50 different nationalities.
For more than two decades, the Fondation Cartier has engaged in projects that examine and address the most urgent issues facing the environment, animal life and indigenous peoples. Full exhibitions, individual works of art, publications, performances and public talks, have explored the devastating effect of human intervention, industrialization, and colonization on the natural world. Exhibitions such as Yanomami, Spirit of the Forest (2003), Native Land, Stop Eject (2008), Exit (2008-ongoing), The Great Animal Orchestra (2016) and Trees (2019) explore the Fondation’s commitment to contemporary ecological questions and the role of humans in the living world. In recent years the Fondation has initiated partnerships with major international institutions, organizing exhibitions in Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Seoul, Milan and Shanghai. The presentation of The Great Animal Orchestra in partnership with the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, marks the museum’s first exhibition partnership in the United States in more than 20 years.
ABOUT THE PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM
Over the last 20 years, the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) has distinguished itself as one of the fastest-growing art museums in North America. Founded in 1799, it is also the country’s oldest continuously operating museum. At its heart is a mission to enrich and transform people's lives by broadening their perspectives, attitudes, and knowledge of themselves and the wider world. PEM celebrates outstanding artistic and cultural creativity through exhibitions, programming, and community and virtual events that emphasize cross-cultural connections, integrate past and present, and underscore the vital importance of creative expression. The museum's collection is among the finest of its kind, with superlative works from around the globe and across time — including American art and architecture, fashion and design, photography, and African, Asian, contemporary, maritime, Native American, and Oceanic art, as well as one of the nation’s most important museum-based collections of rare books and manuscripts. PEM's campus offers a varied and unique visitor experience with hands-on creativity zones, interactive opportunities and performance spaces. Twenty-two noted historic structures grace PEM’s campus, including Yin Yu Tang, a 200-year-old Chinese house that is the only such example of Chinese domestic architecture on display in the United States. HOURS: Open Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, 10 am–5 pm, and Fridays 10 am–7 pm. Closed Tuesdays. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. ADMISSION: Adults $20; seniors $18; students $12. Members, youth 16 and under, and residents of Salem enjoy free general admission. INFO: Call 866-745-1876 or visit pem.org.
MEDIA CONTACT
Whitney Van Dyke | Director of Marketing & Communications | whitney_vandyke@pem.org | 978-542-1828